The Inventor
by dinodares314
Summary: Jaune Arc was a genius, no doubt about it. After a portal experiment goes wrong, he finds himself in Remnant, with no fighting skills. How will he make himself useful against the Grimm and any other evil that threaten civilization? By sciencing the shit out of everything, of course. Slight AU.
1. Act 1: A Whole New World

_**Journal Entry 1**_

 _ **Day 1 in Unknown World**_

 _So, yeah. Our experiment was a…how to put in succinctly…_ decidedly _catastrophic failure. And not like, 'Oh no, our multimillion dollar experiment wasn't built correctly' or 'shucks, the vats of sulfuric acid and water mixed. Whoops' kind of failures either. I mean like someone died kind of thing._

 _It just happened minutes ago and I'm still coming to terms with it. Hard to write about it really, so I'm just going to not. It's not like I need a way to remember it, it'll be hard to forget it anyhow._

 _What was supposed to be an experiment on quantum tunneling ended up with me falling out of my own location. I passed through some kind of portal (though I hesitate to use this term, there was no other name for it) and to the outskirts of some kind of village._

 _A precursory, and admittedly panicked, review of my immediate surroundings revealed some, what Todd back home would say, 'super wacky shit going on'._

 _The plants didn't seem to be any type I had ever seen before. The air itself seemed to taste different, though I just pinned that on lack of pollution. I also felt lighter, not like emotionally or anything, but physically. I could jump higher, and things fell at a slower rate._

 _The Sun (because screw making up a new name) seemed about the same size as Earth's Sun. It was just as bright, which didn't help me at all. Pale skin plus searing sun was not a good combination._

 _I scrambled into the shade of a nearby tree with leaves similar to that of a Maple's but with small holes along each 'arm'. I stayed there for a while, contemplating my surroundings. I had some materials like wires, some food, and extra clothes in my backpack._

 _There were also some mechanical tools in there like a small drill and screwdriver. Don't judge me, keeps me from misplacing things when they're in a bag together._

 _This is where I'm writing this journal entry. Will decide what to do next after a rest._

 _ **Journal Entry 2**_

 _ **Day 1 in Unknown World**_

 _I sat there for a while, deciding on the next course of action. If this world was inhabited by only non-intelligent animals, I was 100% screwed. I knew jack about survival. My go-to quick energy food is a fruit-and-nut bar, and you don't find very many of those in the wild._

 _If the world was inhabited, firstly I would squeal in excitement. On the inside of course, I have a reputation. I'd then try not to get murdered or put in a zoo. A white upright hairless ape? People would go bananas for that. Pun unintended._

 _I left the shade of the tree when the Sun started to touch the tops of the trees. I scouted the area to find where moss was densest to get an idea of where moisture was coming from. I then walked in that direction until I found a small stream gurgling merrily._

 _Civilizations generally flourished on river banks, but this was no river. I have started following it downstream, excited to see what type of life grows here._

 _I feel like a pioneer, not like those chumps that died though. Hopefully I don't contract disease and die in a pit somewhere. That would be a waste._

 _ **Journal Entry 3**_

 _ **Day 1, Unknown Planet**_

 _Goooooddaaaamn. I had no idea how boring documenting plants and animals is. Everything seems to be similar to Earth's creatures but with small variations in form. They were all slightly bigger, probably due to the reduced gravity._

 _It doesn't help that the stream hasn't merged with anything yet. I ate a bar for dinner along with some water, but that leaves me with 2 more bars and most of the water bottle. If I don't get more food from somewhere, I'll die from exposure, hunger, and dehydration all at once._

 _ **Journal Entry 4**_

 _ **Day 2, Unknown Planet**_

 _I found a nice tree to sleep in last night. It had lots of branches, no thorns or sap on the bark, and it was dense with leaves._

 _I had seen no animals larger than a rabbit so far, but that didn't mean I was going to nod off next to flowing water._

 _And now I'm stuck in here._

 _It's currently dawn. And there's something sniffing around under my tree. Disadvantage of the leaf screen: I can't see out at all. So I have no idea what bastard interrupted my sleep._

 _So now I'm just waiting here, hoping whatever it was gets bored and leaves. It sounds as big as a large dog based on its breathing, and I don't want to risk getting Super Rabies before getting by throat ripped out._

 _So now I crouch in this tree, waiting for it to piss off. My pen seems to be running low on ink as well, which means this form of meager entertainment is going to disappear soon._

 _Things couldn't really become worse._

Jaune finished the sentence and put the journal back into his backpack. He had been sketching and writing a journal about everything he had seen after landing in this world. If he ever made it back to Earth it would prove to be very compelling evidence for his account.

His stomach rumbled a little. All he had to eat was a bar about 8 hours ago and he was getting hungry again. He didn't dare to eat with a potentially hostile animal under his tree.

His position wasn't the most comfortable either, but he had made do with the leaves and branches that surrounded him. So he just sat there, like some sort of leafy part of the forest, feeling quite strange at the circumstances.

The loud snuffling stopped suddenly, causing Jaune to stiffen. If these things behaved anything like wolves back home, now would be the time when they…

 _HOOOWWWLLLL._ The howl was followed by loud growls and the sound of claws scraping the bark of the tree.

 _And there it is. Now he's got my scent, the whole pack will follow and soon, bye bye Jaune._

Jaune broke off a section of a thin branch nearby and stripped it of leaves. It was meager protection, but there was a chance that it might scare off the creature if it managed to climb up to him.

A snowball's chance in an oven but still, it was psychologically comforting.

The growling grew louder and become delocalized. The scrabbling increased in volume and then suddenly dropped. The leaves below Jaune started swaying faster and more erratically.

Jaune could almost feel the presence of the creature on the other side of the leaf cover. A snout poked through and Jaune had to consciously hold still.

It was unnaturally jet black and depthless. Not just black fur or skin, but true blackness. The smoothness of it threw off all attempts at depth perception and so it seemed like a shadow had moved the leaves apart.

Jaune held his breath as the snout turned to smell in his direction. It paused for a second. Jaune's lungs burned. Each millisecond felt like a minute as the creature decided whether the smell was worth investigating.

A sudden barking around the base of the tree caused Jaune to flinch backwards and almost fall off his branch perch.

The snout twitched and the tree shook as the creature tried to leap up at him. Jaune caught sight of a long, sleek body that looked just like its snout before he was being tackled backwards out of the tree.

The skin of the animal felt slimy and smooth, with a certain give to it. That was all Jaune could notice before something else slammed into the creature on top of him.

Something grabbed his shirt and slowed him down enough that the ground only drove his breath out rather than break his back. Jaune gasped for air, stars swimming in his vision. He turned to his side and grasped his side as he struggled to pull in air.

There was a quick flurry of motion near the base of the tree, red and white twirling around black blobs.

Jaune blinked a few times to clear the tears from his eyes as he struggled to stand up. It was a hard fall, and Jaune was just happy there were no rocks where he landed.

The image cleared up to reveal a human walking up to him. As if that wasn't weird enough, there was a _huge_ sword on his shoulders, with lines crossing its width. The black bodies of 4 of the attacking creatures lay around the trunk of the tree.

 _Are they_ dissolving _? What is going on?_

Jaune shook his eyes and pinched himself to ascertain that he wasn't imagining things.

"Yeah, most women think I'm a dream too." The voice was coarse yet not unkind.

Jaune looked back at the man and had to admit, he could understand why. He was tall and lean, a red tattered cloak wrapped around his broad shoulders. His expression was cocky, yet his red eyes contained concern. Jaune placed his age around 30, yet his eyes seemed older than that.

"You speak English?" Jaune had so many questions, but that was the one that managed to slip its way out of his mouth. He cursed internally, knowing his first impression wasn't the best right now.

"What's English?" The man cocked his head. "You sure you didn't hit your head during that fall?"

Jaune cursed internally again. Of course they didn't call it English! But how the hell did they speak it all the same?

"Anyways, you seem to be neither dead nor dying so you'll survive for a bit. C'mon." The man turned on his heel and walked away from Jaune with a pace that suited his long legs.

Jaune gaped for a bit before sprinting after his retreating form.

"Hey! I need to get my backpack!"

The man stopped. "Of course you do. You kids always do. You need help?"

"Naw, I'm good. Be right back."

Jaune sprinted up to the tree and started climbing to his ex-perch. His backpack was already packed and ready, but Jaune sat for a bit gathering his thoughts.

 _So not only is this planet inhabited by intelligent creatures, it's inhabited by humans that speak English? Is this a prank? A remake of The Truman Show?_

Jaune had no idea how he would explain anything. All he knew is that he would most probably locked up if he told the truth. The branding on his clothes and backpack could not do: they would give the game away.

Jaune took scissors out of his backpack and snipped the offending tags right off. He cut off the logo on the tongue of his shoes and introduced new holes in various places on his body.

The bars were unwrapped and the covers thrown away. His tools, loathe as he was to part with them, had to go. There was no way of making his story make sense if he was carrying around branded scissors and a goddamn power drill.

Having gotten rid of all the offending items as quickly as he could, Jaune climbed back down hastily. He knew he had taken too much time based on the man's impatient expression.

"About damn time. Were you packing your makeup kit or something?" The man eyed him. His eyes moved to Jaune's arm where they narrowed slightly. "You're bleeding."

Jaune glanced down. It was true, he was bleeding. The bark must have cut him on the way down the tree. He gathered up the material of his shirt to apply pressure on the wound, but the man stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have your aura unlocked?"

"My what now?" Jaune blinked at the distaste in the man's eyes. What was he talking about and why Jaune being judged for not having his 'aura' unlocked?

"Your aura. Look kid, I don't know where you're from but if you don't know about aura at your age, I'm surprised you survived this long. Where are you from?"

Jaune stared at him, trying to piece together a believable backstory.

"It's embarrassing really. My family and I were travelling through this forest when I stayed behind for a bit to draw some of the plants I found in the underbrush. Turns out, no one noticed me stopping."

Jaune watched the man's eyebrows slowly creep up his face. "And yeah, I got lost. I've been trying to find someone that could help me get back to them."

"You got left behind because you stopped to draw _plants_? Did I get that right?"

 _Jeez, my impression is going down faster than the Titanic. I even drove into the iceberg myself with that dumb story._

"I like nature, like unique plants and stuff."

 _OH FOR THE LOVE OF…_

The man stared at him like he had two heads. "Seriously, are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"I mean, I'm sorry for being curious about stuff!"

"Forget about it. By any chance was your method of transport two carriages, one carrying Dust and the other clothes?"

Jaune wasn't one to look a gift backstory in the mouth. "Yep. Dad sold Dust. We were moving to go to a place with more demand."

The man grimaced. "I don't know how to tell you this, but your parents are dead. Grimm attack a day or so ago."

Jaune stared at the man in shock before spinning around and hiding his face. If his made up family was dead, then there was no one for Jaune to be handed off to.

"Listen kid, I'm sorry and all but we have to move. Grimm are going to swarm us if you keep the waterworks up."

Jaune rubbed his eyes to make them a little bloodshot and turned back around. The man looked at him sympathetically before starting to walk again.

Jaune trotted behind him. "So what's your name? You saved me from those beasts, I think I should at least know your name when thanking you."

"Qrow."

"Like caw caw?" Jaune couldn't help the joke.

"Kid, I swear to Dust I will leave you here with no qualms. Pour some honey all over you and toss you to an Ursa. Try me."

Jaune decided to stay silent for a bit. "So, uh, sorry about earlier. I'm Jaune, name is short, sweet, rolls off th…"

"What did I just say, Jaune?" Qrow put a hand on his sword.

"Sorry." Jaune had no idea what an Ursa was but it sounded bad.

They walked in silence for an hour before reaching a clearing. A black airship, unlike any he had ever seen before, sat in the center. It had a rounded metal body with two large engines attached to thin wings.

"What's that? Is it supposed to fly?" The wings didn't look like they provided any thrust, making this a vehicle that was effectively a large jetpack.

"Bullhead, specially fitted with Gravity Dust generators. I wanted to call it the Qrow but Ozpin denied me. Now it doesn't have a name. Something about being too arrogant but I don't see it."

 _Gravity Dust? Dust must be some kind of energy source, like gasoline. Maybe Gravity Dust is specially formulated like rocket fuel?_

Jaune decided to take another risk. "Isn't that expensive? The Dust I mean."

"Sure is, but only the best for the best." Qrow opened the door in the middle of the body and climbed in, motioning Jaune to follow. "Helps that I didn't have to pay for it."

They were in a small room with two doors: one to the front and one to back. Qrow opened the one to the front and stepped into a cockpit.

"Go to the back and strap in. Don't touch anything."

Jaune opened the door opposite the one Qrow had gone through. The craft rumbled slightly as the engines came to life. With a whirring of blades, the craft lifted off with barely any warning.

Jaune crawled to the seat that was next to the door and strapped himself in. The rest of the space contained boxes upon boxes with FRAGILE-DUST written on them.

The craft stopped accelerating after 20 seconds and Jaune relaxed. The acceleration was quite something and sitting parallel to the direction of acceleration didn't help make it feel any better.

The engines barely made any noise for the amount of power they were outputting. Helicopter occupants required strong ear protection to protect from the noise of the rotor, but Jaune barely felt any pain.

It also didn't sound or feel like the engine was using any form of combustion engine. The vibration pattern was too regular, the sound too smooth. The lack of a combustion engine could explain the relative silence of the engine. The only sound that would be produced by a silent motor would be the sound of the blades slicing through the air.

 _So either these humans had technology Earth humans didn't or Dust was something mind numbingly useful. I need to get my hands on it as soon as possible._

His attention kept going back to the crates. There was a blue snowflake design on each corner. Jaune reasoned that it could be a designation for the type of Dust in the box or it could be the manufacturer's name.

The snowflake was too intricate, had too many small details for it to be a general designation for the Dust. _Could be specially formulated, like Gravity Dust or something? Makes sense for it to be fancy if you're paying a lot of money for it._

The ship lurched and started dropping fast. Jaune was thankful that he hadn't eaten much recently, the sudden drop might have brought something up. Jaune hovered for a few seconds enjoying the weightlessness before the ship pulled up as suddenly as it had dropped.

Jaune grit his teeth as he pulled at least 4 g's. The engines grew louder at the increased weight of the ship. Jaune was on the verge on passing out when the ship thankfully leveled.

The sounds of the engine changed as the ship presumably initiated landing, at least by the sound of the echo of the engines off the ground. Jaune waited for the engines to quieten before unstrapping. After the type of flying Qrow had just executed, Jaune wouldn't put it past him to take off again just for the fun of it.

Jaune opened the door and walked out to see Qrow already outside, stretching leisurely in the early morning sun. Jaune squinted as he stepped out of the Bullhead and shaded his eyes with his hands. The landing pad was _bright._

As his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the surroundings, he first noticed the cliff that they had landed next to. It dropped down into a large forest then into a large city. No, that was too small a word for it. There were plenty of large cities on Earth, but this compared to the largest of them. Shanghai, Karachi, Beijing type of big.

It stretched to the distance to the North and South, with the Eastern direction blocked by open ocean. The Sun was peeking above the horizon, setting the water and the city alike ablaze with light.

Jaune almost whistled. He knew he shouldn't be surprised based solely on the advanced technology the Bullhead showed, but this town was extraordinary. It wasn't in any way as dirty looking as the large cities back on Earth, there was no grey blob of smog hanging over it all like a stubborn cloud.

That by itself was something remarkable. These humans had managed to harness clean energy which was something that Jaune had been a hardcore supporter of back home.

Jaune stood for a minute letting the feeling wash over him. A more technologically world, both familiar and alien at the same time, with many alternate technologies to discover. He was stunned.

"If you're that pleased with Vale, tell me when you calm down. I don't want to carry you in to the hospital and tell the doctor that you fainted from excitement."

Jaune grinned. The utter elation he felt at not having to rely on his non-existent survival skills overpowering most questions he had. He was safe, the questions could wait until later.

"Haha, very funny. You speak as if you've done that before." Jaune closed his eyes and enjoyed the heat of the sun on him.

"You'd be surprised at how many kids I find wandering around in the forest. Most of them get overwhelmed with Vale, but then get pushed over with Beacon."

 _Beacon?_

"What's Beacon? Is it another city?" Jaune couldn't see anything. Ahead and to the left and right was the cliff and the forest that grew to the edge of it, behind him was the Bullhead.

"Don't tell me your parents never told you about Beacon? Did they even mention Vale? You're toilet-trained right?"

Jaune glared at Qrow. "I may have been sheltered, but I've heard about Vale. Didn't expect it to be y'know," he gestured in the city's direction. "It seemed smaller in my parents' description."

"So nothing about Beacon? That's quite the tragedy." Qrow was leaning against the Bullhead, examining his fingernails. He saw Jaune looking at him and slowly stood straight again. Straight as a palm tree at least. He had a slouch around him that suited him and would've just looked lazy on anyone else.

Qrow motioned Jaune to follow him.

"You didn't answer me. What is Bea…." Jaune stared at the building in front of. Or rather, a collection of buildings that worked together to achieve the aesthetic of a castle. The soaring towers overlooked grassy fields crisscrossed with paths.

There were many kids his own age (or rather, older than him) strolling around, chatting, laying in the sun, or just generally relaxing. They all were carrying weapons of various types: swords, daggers, pistols, rifles, tridents, bidents, spears, javelins, shurikens, and many other types.

Many students had seemingly blended together different types of weapons to create an immense variety. Jaune stared intensely at each one, trying to work out how each one worked, potential blueprints forming in his head.

"The path is there for a reason kid. The school isn't there only for admiration you know. Come on, we need to get you registered."

Qrow walked up the main pathway that led to the large main doors of the school. Qrow waved at several of the older students who seemed to know him. Jaune noticed more than a few of the kids glance at him distastefully, some even giving him a wide berth.

"Hey Qrow?" Jaune had to scurry a little to catch up to Qrow's lanky strides. "What's up with the hostility?"

"It mostly stems from jealousy. You'll understand soon enough. Ignore them for now."

Qrow turned off the main path and took a smaller path that curved around the main building of Beacon.

"What is this place? Why'd you bring me here?"

"To your first question, this is Beacon Academy. Vale's very own Hunter Academy, the finest in the world in my opinion. As to your second question, have a little more patience; we're almost there."

Qrow stopped in front of a door at thhe base of the central, tallest tower of Beacon. It looked like the others: long. slender, and beautiful. The top held the most difference, however, as a large set of gears dominated the very top. Large bright orbs circled the mechanism, looking like a…

 _Beacon. They really don't beat around the bush here._

Qrow pulled out a grey, long strip of metal with a line down the middle. He swiped it over a flat black panel on the wall next to the door and waited. The panel displayed a green check mark and the door smoothly slid open to reveal an elevator.

The ride up was silent. Jaune at this point was absolutely bewildered. He had been saved from nightmarish creatures by a man that had appeared out of nowhere. The man in question carried out a big-ass sword like no one's business.

Nothing about Jaune's unbelievable story of being lost in the forest was put under much scrutiny. The whole thing gave off the feeling that Qrow had done this all before, with several others.

 _Kids in this world need to get themselves together. Getting lost in the forest shouldn't be so common that you take it so casually._

And now they were heading up an elevator to the top of the largest tower in Beacon Academy. It was a Hunter Academy, apparently.

 _As if that explanation was supposed to mean anything to me. What's a Hunter? Why are such large school being made for hunting animals? Humans back home just had to be in the same square mile as a species to kill it off, what's up with these guys?_

The biggest source of subtle unease was the fact that he was taking it all in stride. He knew he should be freaking out about every single thing in this situation, but just…wasn't. He didn't feel any panic; he didn't feel like a complete outsider.

He actually felt weirdly _normal._

The elevator dinged open to reveal their destination. It was a spacious room, with a ceiling open to the gears that Jaune had seen from the Bullhead. The other end of the room contained a large window that had a brilliant view of Vale and its surrounding areas.

There was an oddly shaped desk in front of it, facing away from the window. Holographic _(!)_ screens were hovering over the desk. The desk wrapped around a chair that turned as they approached it.

"Ah, Qrow. I see you've managed to find another one. Forever Fall?" The man took a sip from white coffee cup.

The man's voice was deep, smooth and commanding. He was a tall man dressed in a green shirt and vest with a green scarf over his shoulders. His brown eyes gazed at the two of them over the top of his small grey, oddly shaped, glasses.

Qrow nodded. "Same as the others."

 _This guy must be the Headmaster of this school. The office sure fits that._

The presumed headmaster looked at him for a moment before bowing his head apologetically. "Forgive me Jaune, you must be quite confused at all of this. You will receive answers for your questions in due time. I am Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy."

He held out his hand and Jaune hesitated slightly before shaking. Ozpin looked at him expectantly and Jaune realized that he wanted him to start talking.

"Well, I'm Jaune Arc, though I think you already knew that." He smiled nervously.

Ozpin smiled kindly and gestured at a chair in front of his desk. "It is all right to be nervous Jaune, nothing out of the ordinary. Please, take a seat and have a refreshment. Nothing like coffee in the morning in my humble opinion."

Jaune took the offered seat and cup. He took a tentative sip. _They even have coffee here? What the hell?_ Jaune felt the hot liquid coat the insides of his throat, the warmth and caffeine making him feel like he had just woken up.

"Woah, that's strong." Jaune blinked and took another sip.

"Specially imported from Vacuo. I am myself a connoisseur of coffee, among other things." Ozpin waited for Jaune to take a few more sips. "So Jaune, please, tell me about how exactly you got lost in the forest."

Jaune held the cup with both hands and stared into the black liquid, making sure his story was more or less airtight. He started off describing how his family was slightly nomadic, going village to village to sell and trade Dust.

He explained how they had been passing near Forever Fall when he found some interesting specimen to document. Jaune noticed that Ozpin listened intently, a neutral expression on his face. That was a far cry from Qrow who shook his head at the story.

Jaune told Ozpin how he had lost his way and tried to find a nearby village, when he was attacked by Beowolves.

"That's when Qrow showed up and killed the Grimm. After that…" Jaune stopped as Ozpin raised a hand.

"Thank you Jaune for your interesting story. Qrow here has told me the rest so no need to waste your breath." Ozpin smiled slightly. "Now, I can tell you have many questions. Feel free to ask them, we know this must be very disorienting for you."

Jaune gathered his thoughts for a bit, deciding on his first question. "First of all, does this happen often? Do you often find kids out in the wilderness and bring them here?"

"As long as there have been people living in the wilderness, there have been children who find themselves in places they should not be in. Beacon Academy has long kept guard over Forgotten Fall as part of the Academy's goal to ensure no life is wasted. We help these children that have nowhere to go achieve something in life. You are…a bit on the older side but that is not a problem."

Jaune nodded. _Makes sense. Having young defenseless kids die within an hour of your school looks bad however you cut it._

"So is this what you do, Qrow?"

Qrow laughed. "I was just in the neighborhood, heard the alert from the sensors around the forest. You also leave as many tracks as snail on a blackboard, so it wasn't that hard to find you."

Jaune grinned awkwardly. "Guess that worked out in my favor. So, onto my next question. I do have quite a few questions about the school and city, but most importantly, where am I going after this?"

"Straight to the important point. Very well. Let's get started. You seem to read and write well based on the journal you told us about, so schooling isn't a priority. We could put you in a rehabilitation program that gets you used to city life before you start working.

You could also attend school which, based on your…decision to document plants, would suit you. What is your opinion on all of this? You can take a moment to decide."

Jaune nodded in thanks. He immediately mentally crossed off any sort of labor off his list. He could go to the rehab program to know more about this world, try to make his way. Earn enough money to try and find the material that had landed him in this world in the first place.

Or he could go to school and try to fast track to being a researcher. That would constrain him but it would also speed up his attempt to go back home.

 _Or…._

"Actually, can I suggest something of my own?" Jaune continued as Ozpin nodded his assent. "I'd…well, I don't know if this is too much to ask, but I'd love to research Dust."

"An unusual request, to be fair." Ozpin looked at Qrow, then at his own computer. He clicked here and there, evidently looking at something. Jaune glanced at Qrow who was using the device that he had used to open the elevator doors.

 _So the two halves of the bar open up to reveal a holographic screen? Dang, I would have killed for that kind of portability back home._

Ozpin finally looked back up after a minute.

"You said you father dealt in Dust. Makes sense the son should follow. Do you have any experience with this material?"

Jaune shrugged. "I have some. I didn't really get to use expensive stuff like Gravity Dust but I can avoid killing myself."

Qrow cocked his head quizzically at him. "Your aura isn't active, how'd you use it?"

 _Shhiiii…_

"I didn't actually use it per se, I basically did grunt work, carrying and assisting, that sort of stuff." Jaune hoped that his lack of aura, whatever that was, wasn't too suspicious.

Ozpin glanced at Qrow and back at Jaune. "Your aura is not active?"

Qrow scoffed. "It's not. Parents were waiting for him to do it himself when he got older. Fools."

Ozpin looked at Qrow over his spectacles. "Not so foolish Qrow, especially if you are dealing with loose Dust. Have you forgotten how volatile newly active aura can be? You of all people shouldn't forget."

Qrow blanched a little, which Jaune barely noticed on his pale skin. He recovered quickly. "Of course not."

"Good. Now," Ozpin looked back at Jaune. "You are in luck, as we do have a program for Dust users to practice their skills outside of classes. You shall be alone for quite some time as we have just began a school year."

If your progress shows, we can have you join the newcomers next year. There are some forms that need to be filled out, but seeing as you are not registered in any Kingdom, we need to get that done first."

Jaune spent the next half hour signing papers and getting his photo taken. Ozpin managed to fast track the process and Jaune's identity was in the system. Ozpin opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a device similar to the one Qrow had used earlier, but silver.

Ozpin typed something into it before passing it to Jaune. "This, Jaune, is a scroll. It is your means of communicating with the world. Do you know what the Cross Continental Transmit System is?"

Jaune had no clue. "Yeah, my dad said he used it to check the news and Dust prices. We didn't have a scroll though and he never took me to the place where he accessed it."

"That's all you need to know for now. It is used to talk to anyone else who is connected to the CCT, as well as to look things up. It also contains your personal information as well as your Vale Lien account."

Jaune blinked. "Lien?" He tried to keep his tone connotation neutral.

"Every citizen of Vale gets a basic income every month. This month's is in your account. I wager that you know a thing or two about handling money, don't you?"

Jaune grinned a little and nodded. Free money! "Helping my dad, yeah."

"Excellent. Qrow here will take you to the guest quarters while we sort your situation out. I shall be in contact to help ease your transition."

"Thank you so much Headmaster. Really, thank you so much for doing this." Jaune smiled widely as he tried to express his gratitude at being allowed to get access to money and Dust right off the bat.

"Anyone would have done the same."

Qrow smiled as the elevator doors closed. "Well kid, looks like everything is more or less sorted. Welcome to Beacon. I think you'll have fun here."

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	2. Under Construction

_**Journal Entry 152**_

 _ **Day 94 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Just finished working on the new 3D printer. The technology they have here is quite fascinating, but very focused in one aspect._

 _Their primary use of these is in manufacturing electronics. In a way they are like an advanced version of the factory droid back home. Super useful, but not a very efficient application with respect to the potential it has._

 _What I've managed to do is utilize the complex application of this technology in application cases such as rapid protyping, and simplify the design with the advantages of Dust._

 _Ah Dust. I can't stress the wonder it creates in my mind, even though I think I have written about it more than I should. But truly, this is something borderline magical. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and I think that is the case here too. I just have to figure out how 'aura' works, and I think that will unlock the secrets to these wonderful crystals._

 _I still remember the feeling that I got when I had my aura unlocked. Qrow had done the honors, but there was no ceremony or anything. I said a few words and then Qrow concentrated his own aura to unlock mine. Some sort of resonance at work here, which is a big clue this could be a physical process of some kind._

 _My aura has gotten stronger ever since it got unlocked, and today it reached the level that is average among students my age. Glynda said that my rate of aura growth was very exceptional, which really piqued my interest._

 _Now I wonder if my being here from another planet had anything to do with it. Maybe the stricter gravity, among other possibilities, could have made me different that the others?_

 _These questions have been plaguing me from the very first day. I have talked to Ozpin about these topics, but his cryptic answers drive me up the wall. Glynda thankfully had some more solid answers. You could always count on Glynda to be there to help you. One of my favorite people already._

 _Anyways, what she said was that there hasn't been much research into this topic, what with fundamentalists lobbying to prevent funding from going to into it. There was a popular belief aura was a manifestation of one's soul and thus was sacred._

 _I think it's all bullshit but hey, I shouldn't judge._

 _I've experimented with it a lot, testing its abilities. Its ability to stop incoming projectiles was a very early discovery, but lately I have confirmed that it does not stop gasses or slow moving projectiles. Seems like it is meant to be a precaution against anything that could blindside you._

 _Aura is also used to activate Dust, something which slipped my mind today. Let's just say that a corner of the lab is no more. Anyways, I have to go do something else. Exciting stuff is on the horizon._

Jaune got up from his desk and stretched, working the stiffness from his limbs. Staying in a single position while soldering things to a motherboard all day was not good for the body. Thankfully, aura worked its magic and he was soon feeling quite normal.

He walked over to the water fountain and poured himself a glass. He took a sip and sighed in contentment as his gaze swept his lab, the corner a slight against the chaotic beauty of the lab.

He had managed to convince Ozpin to promote him up from just being an assistant in the weapons lab to having his own lab set off from the other labs. This one was next to Beacon's large warehouse where all sorts of materials and Dust were stored.

Jaune had quickly organized the place in a method of his choosing, which Glynda Goodwitch the Deputy Headmistress (much like his parents) called a 'mess'.

Jaune had managed to do such a thing by ascending quickly through the ranks of the engineers working for Beacon. His unique ideas and methodology had made him stand out from the others. He had absorbed the knowledge that humanity here had acquired about Dust and blended that with his scientific background.

The result had been extraordinary. Improved efficiency of electronic equipment using Shock Dust and the theories of electricity. Better outflow of heat from electronics, higher throughput of engines, just to name a few.

The resulting blueprints that Jaune had drafted had impressed Ozpin. Jaune attributed his non-traditional ideas to a lack of bias resulting from living out of the city for all his life.

Ozpin had bought it. And here Jaune was, his own lab to put his own ideas into practice.

The school year was almost over. Students his age would be starting school in 4 months, and Jaune was actually slightly dreading that. The other kids in school generally left him alone, but he wasn't so sure about the new students, especially at Jaune's newfound prominence in the Weapons and Engineering Department.

Though that was just a small blot against the great glow of satisfaction that he felt. His plan was progressing nicely, each step successful without much resistance. The latest piece had been a 3d printer to print both plastics and metals.

Dust was a huge marvel, and Jaune used it to his full advantage. What used to be considered incredibly difficult to do with traditional technology could be achieved with Dust. Wires and connections and all sorts of things that had to be used in devices on Earth could be removed, with Shock crystals being placed wherever electricity was needed.

Jaune finished his glass and set it down. He walked to the opposite corner of the lab where a small hole had been cut into the side of a set of drawers, invisible to anyone who wasn't actively looking for it.

Jaune reached in and heaved out a heavy metal capsule, using his aura to boost his strength. The steel and glass capsule slid out, warm pink light glowing from the inside. Jaune had constructed it on the down low, after reading about some of the experiments that had been carried out during the Color War years ago.

Aura which, along with acting like a shield, also acts like a healing field. Jaune had cut himself many different ways of purpose to observe how his tissues regenerated. Aura apparently used the nutrients in his own body to regrow tissues at an accelerated rate.

The flesh that came back wasn't exactly the same as it had been before at first. Muscles seemed less full than before and tendons were weaker than they had been before. Jaune had to take in more nutrition that before in order to bring up the new tissues to their previous state.

Using this knowledge and the experimental data from the poorly covered-up Color War experiments to make a 'bio-capsule'. The metal and glass container contained what was essentially amniotic fluid: a soup of nutrients that would help the growth of any tissues inside.

He had taken his own genetic material and flesh, and suspended it in place. Several strategically placed Aura Crystals (empty Dust Crystals that could hold raw Aura) fueled the regeneration process.

Jaune had been observing its progress over a couple of weeks and had been more or less satisfied with it so far. The body had been growing well so far, most of the internal organs mostly formed. A steady supply of raw nutrients and Aura, some foreign materia to prevent allergic reactions, a warm environment and some other details ensured that the body was growing quite nicely.

Jaune closed his eyes and meditated to collect his thoughts and refocus himself. His initial goal with the body was to firstly, see if it was scientifically possible to grow a body from naught but Aura and flesh. That could come in handy if something were to go wrong in combat, which is a distinct possibility at Beacon.

His second, more altruistic goal, was to create a group of sentinels of sorts. Crime was rampant in Vale, which was to be expected of a city of its size. Dust robberies in broad daylight was just the tip of the iceberg.

There was also the problem of racism against Faunus: humans with animal-like traits. Or that was the consensus of one group of scientists. Another group concluded Faunuses were a different, parallel species that could interbreed with regular humans.

Whatever they were, tensions had been high between humans and Faunus for tens of generations. It had seemed to be getting better with new, progressive laws being put into effect to equalize Faunus and human rights.

That hadn't stopped the racism, which didn't surprise Jaune much, given the state of Earth's sociopolitical climate. There had been groups like the White Fang which had made the situation worse by their violent and criminal acts against human-owned businesses.

Something had to police this sort of behavior, something impartial and non-judgmental. Robotic sentinels were nice in concept and all, but not even Dust could easily fix the fundamental problems of balance and other basic necessities.

A more human touch was required, one that was impersonal and could easily be replicated in case operations went wrong. Hence the capsule and its contents.

Jaune had no expectations about what the final result would be, but he felt quite confident about it. He knew he could never reveal this to the world, but he felt quite proud of how right his theories were turning out to be. It was time to wait and see.

 _ **Journal Entry 241**_

 _ **Day 147 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Well, shit._

 _Turns out, there was a reason that the Color War experiments were hushed up far more than the 'crimes' implied. The body that was created was braindead, much like I had anticipated. Aura wasn't able to undo major brain damage in most cases and this was quite the extreme case._

 _The_ real _problem was that the body was highly disfigured. The body had grown fine macroscopically, but the details were where the disfigurements started. The face was just a mess, with everything around the eyes all scarred and marked._

 _That was true with most of the body. The entire thing looked like the skin was put through a filter in Photoshop. The senses still worked thankfully, but the muscles were underdeveloped. I had left the body in the soup for a couple extra days but to no effect._

 _The muscles simply could not do anything more than support themselves. They wouldn't be able to lift stuff, wield tools, etc. Something would be required to move him around, especially with the chronic case of being brain-dead._

 _Next step: exoskeleton, I guess. The aura crystals peppered inside the body could be used to power the exoskeleton in a way. It's going to take a while and a lot of space to do this, but I think I can make do._

 _ **Journal Entry 297**_

 _ **Day 201 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Alright, that's good. The exoskeleton works decently well. I have installed computer chips in some of the joints to coordinate movement better._

 _I also scared myself half to death when the body spasmed slightly when I was working on my aural exercises. After calming down and examining the behavior, I determined that the cause of the spasm was the aura I was giving off._

 _Somehow my aura inside the crystals thinks the generated body is a clone of my actual body, which is quite interesting. As a result, when I flare my aura outwards, the aura in the crystals resonate, causing the body's muscles to jerk._

 _After careful experimentation, it seems like I can tune this to create a passable representation of a walking man. That fits perfectly into my plans for the fella, since the exoskeleton doesn't have to manually coded and wired; it can work off the aura impulses I send to it from my real body._

 _More experimentation is needed before I can put the body to work._

Jaune dropped the pen into the holder, closed his journal, and lay back on his bed with a sigh. Glynda had starting training him in combat ever since the extraordinary growth of his aura. Jaune had taken some self-defense classes back home, which helped his story about learning to defend himself outside of the kingdoms sound more true.

Glynda was…a hard teacher, but by no means unfair. She would correct his mistakes in techniques, always pushing him to get better. Jaune learned to use a sword and shield, the starter weapons most kids of his build start off with.

Along with the sword and shield, he honed his aural abilities to be used both offensively, defensively, as well as for movement. He tackled obstacle courses that pushed him to jump higher and longer, and push his stamina to the limits.

Thankfully, Glynda always scheduled these practices after his daily lab work when the practice fields were empty. Jaune knew that some of the students wandering the grounds recognized him based on their glares, but he ignored them.

Every night he went to bed utterly exhausted and went out like a light when his head touched the pillow. Every morning he would wake up refreshed and ready to tackle the day's challenges. It was a good life.

…

It wasn't a good life. Everything hurt. All over.

Jaune groaned in pain as he rolled around on the ground, his back feeling as if it was truly on fire.

"Get up Jaune, you're fine. If you can't stand then just hold still and let your aura heal you."

Jaune grit his teeth and waited for the itching that accompanied aural healing. Glynda was right, as usual, but it was hard to stay still _when your back was ripping itself apart, for the love of…_

"Jaune. Get up now or we do that again."

Jaune scrambled to his feet, the thought of jumping again abhorrent to him. According to Goodwitch, the jump he had just made, off the top of Beacon Dorms, was something that the students did for fun sometimes.

 _A fifty-meter jump for fun? Friggin' mental, that's what these guys are._

Jaune groaned and stretched his back to bring it back to a feeling of normalcy. He had tried to do a roll upon landing but had ended up almost fracturing his back. It was some of the most agonizing pain he had ever experienced but aura came through just in time.

Glynda smiled slightly, but there was no goodwill in it. "Nothing seems to have broken, and your aura levels are in the green."

 _No. Please no._

"Let's do it again shall we?"

…

 _ **Journal Entry 335**_

 _ **Day 227 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Finally, after weeks of work, the body is ready for proper use. I have implemented basic movement systems into the exoskeleton, with the majority of fine movements being controlled by me consciously._

 _I have a suite of weapons that I have designed and prototyped with me that I shall use to ascertain the capabilities of the suit. So here goes nothing._

 _ **Journal Entry 336**_

 _ **Day 227 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Alright, so that was a much better test than I could have hoped for. Thankfully I still haven't fixed the ruined corner of the lab, as I would have had to fix it again after the trigger finger froze as I was firing explosive Dust rounds at a target._

 _The body is mostly functional and after an hour of messing around I have started to gain finer motor control. It comes naturally, which I don't know is a result of the aura 'seeping' into the body or just practice being_ very _effective._

 _I'll have to make another body to test this train of thought out. Here goes nothing._

The pen dropped out of scarred hands and hit the ground. The body shambled away to the pod with hesitant steps and climbed in.

Jaune opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, barely aware of the rest of the world. He felt calm and serene, truly at peace with himself. There was a part of his brain that was popping champagne, but that was ignored.

He had _done it._ The impossible. He had accomplished in months. What Remnant's scientists had started years ago had been finished by him. A knocking at the lab door brought him back to the real world.

"Jaune? Did you fall asleep in there? Are you coming today or not?"

 _Oh shieee…._ Jaune scrambled over to the pod and hurriedly put it back into its hiding spot. Glynda was at the door, and his watch told him that he was very _very_ late for combat practice.

"No! I mean, yes! I mean, no I'm not asleep and yes, I'm coming. Just got caught up in um, tweaking this ammunition." That wasn't really a lie, he indeed had been trying to make a more compact, stable mixture of explosive Dust.

"Good. I hope you had your fun in there because you won't be having any at practice."

Jaune gulped.

 _ **Journal Entry 376**_

 _ **Day 258 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _Did you know there was a cave system under Beacon? I didn't! As I was finally getting around to properly fixing what I had dubbed the 'Destruction Corner', I decided to run some scans of the area around it to see if I could expand to hide the three bodies that I had created._

 _The closet was overflowing and all it would take for this to come to light was an overenthusiastic janitor who hated reading signs. There were a couple like that around Beacon, which had led to some close calls with volatile Dust before Glynda assigned them far away from the R &D Department. _

_Anyways, so what I found was surprising: the rock underneath actually got less dense relative to distance! I decided to probe a little deeper (only a few dozen meters) before I found a large cave._

 _A few sounding probes later, I was now aware of a large cave, possibly a system of caves, underneath the R &D Department. It should be a relatively easy task to drill a meter-radius hole down into the ground to hide the bodies. And I just realized how bad that sounds. _

_Anyways, an empty cave system would be an amazing resource for obvious reasons. The hard part would be hiding the drill and sounds of the drill from the rest of the school. It'll be hard, but the power of Dust compels me!_

 _Or something like that anyways._

 _ **Journal Entry 400**_

 _ **Day 290 in Beacon, Vale, Remnant**_

 _400 entries in the journal! Whoo._

 _Two hundred and ninety days in this world._

 _Almost 80% of a year in and I doubt anyone could do all I have done so far in 10 times that. Countless inventions and new ideas, innovations and iterations to existing technology, doing stuff only dreamed about!_

 _I have created clones that can be controlled by aura and technology in perfect harmony. I have made weapons for them, from swords to pistols to rifles to javelins. So far I have ten bodies at my disposal, with more developing in my Lab 2.0 as I call the large cave under Beacon._

 _The rest of the system remains a mystery and while I would like to explore it, it will have to wait. I have created rudimentary AI for everything from monitoring the lab to scouring the CCT for news._

 _Computer chips were easy to create with the 3D printer technology I modeled after existing Remnant technology. Thanks to this invention in Remnant, scrolls were ubiquitous in Vale, and innovations could move past the stage where 'make the bloody think smaller' was a valid innovation._

 _All this and more I have done, yet I have never actually set foot outside the Beacon grounds before. Seriously, with the amount of crime that is reported on the hour, part of me doesn't even want to go in case I get caught up in an attempted robbery._

 _But I knew I had to, to get at least some basic knowledge about how crime was being conducted at this frequency around the city. There had to be a larger group that conducted the smaller gangs._

 _Until I knew what I was looking for, just going to the city and trying to find crime would be a dumb idea. I had to find the group responsible as discreetly as possible without alerting them to outside interference._

 _There is no real reason for me to do this; I didn't even belong here! But I can't just let crime consume this city while I trained to get into Beacon proper. I couldn't willingly take the oath to protect humanity while humans fought and killed each other right next door._

 _Batman may or may not have influenced me here, but I don't think anyone here is going to accuse me of being cliché._

 _I have been receiving intense training from Glynda for the duration of my stay at Beacon. This training is far more than the average student gets in the first 8 years of their education. My large aura reserves, my willingness to learn, and Glynda's sadistic training regime made me into a competent fighter with all sorts of weapons._

 _I had managed to catch up to the level of the average student my age about 2 weeks ago. I had hated Glynda's training but after I passed the tests she had given me that day; the elation had been worth it. It was one of the best feelings to finally finish the obstacle course and defeat the sparring robots without feeling like death._

 _Glynda had been pleased to pop that bubble by informing me that the regime that I could barely keep pace with day after day was the same regime that first year students were expected to be used to._

' _The average student does not go to Beacon, Jaune.' She had said. 'If you wish to get in, you will have to prove yourself to your classmates. That is, if you wish to get in.'_

 _The next two weeks had somehow gotten even harder, but it never felt unfair. That was the only thing that stopped me from quitting, knowing that this was for my own benefit._

 _So I knew that I could hold my own against any gang of thugs on the street, even if some of them were trained in aura usage. The real problem lay with Hunter-trained individuals. Thankfully, 99% of Hunter-trained individuals stayed on the straight and narrow, with the odd rogue exception._

 _So that was the question of personal safety almost dealt with. There was still the question of personal armor. Most Hunters wore armor in line with their fighting style. Some preferred heavy, full body armor to help them tank heavy blows._

 _Others wore minimal armor to maximize mobility. I have decided on a compromise of the two, a set that would keep me nimble but still protect me from large blows. A large chestplate with Aura and Dust Crystals embedded within went over the chest of the clone, followed by shoulder pads and some leg guards._

 _A simple sword, Dust crystal studded of course, and a shield. Guess what was in the shield? I had darkened the color of the metal to help blend into the dark alleys and shadows better. No point in standing out like a Christmas tree, was there?_

 _A helmet slotted over the head lastly, with a basic Heads-Up Display on the visor. It would display the amount of aura that was left in the Aura crystals in the clone's chest as well as a basic motion tracker._

 _It was a basic prototype of something greater, but it would have to do for now._

 _Now that's all the problems I've managed to fix. The biggest puzzle piece I'm missing is the identity or whereabouts of anyone who controls the gangs of this city. A chap called Roman Torchwick has been popping up on the news a lot lately for thefts from Dust shops across the city._

 _According to most reports, he is a proficient Hunter level fighter who has, so far, never been caught. He has hit a dozen of stores over the last 6 months, which is a little ridiculous._

 _There is a club in Downtown Vale, around ten miles away from Beacon Cliff that I can hit up for information. According to the general consensus, the club is owned by a man, Junior Xiong, whose men have been arrested many times in many different cases. It is an upscale club with a seedy background._

 _Seems like a perfect place to hit up for my first excursion._

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	3. A Fight To Remember

**Jaune Arc**

Jaune walked down the streets of Vale, taking in the sights of the nightlife. In a way, it was very similar to what went on in the cities back home: people shopping, eating, drinking, clubbing, walking, and talking. The sounds of life blended together into a sort of white noise that almost felt soothing.

He strolled down the streets, his hand resting lightly on his sheath. Many people carried weapons on themselves in the city, especially in the area that Jaune was walking through. Intimidation was a better guard than the police themselves.

After walking for about half an hour, he had reached his destination. Located in a quiet area of the city, the club didn't look like much from the outside, with only two bouncers standing outside the entrance, and no line. The lots around the club looked rundown and unused, which contrasted heavily with the lights streaming from the windows of the club.

Jaune slowly walked up to the bouncers, exuding confidence. He looked at the bouncers' intimidating physiques and weapons offhandedly, as if dismissing them as threats outright. Confidence was half the battle, really. People would be less likely to challenge him, and he could do without challenge.

He swiped his scroll, and stood straight with a lazy air while the bouncers registered him with the club. He had salvaged and repaired a broken scroll before adding a fake ID for John Appleseed on it. The bouncers didn't blink and waved him in, satisfied with the ID. The doors opened, and the heat and noise swallowed Jaune whole.

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Yang Xiao Long was not in a good mood. After months of planning and collecting information, she had finally managed to sneak away from home under the guise of going to a friend's house. She had spent the whole day going from contact to contact, being shunted around the whole city looking for the information she had been promised.

Every informant said that their contact had told Yang to meet them elsewhere in the city, and so Yang had gone on a wild goose chase seeking the location of her absent mother, the infamous Raven Branwen. Raven had left Taiyang when Yang was but a child, completely disappearing.

Not many people had been willing to talk, fearing retribution from Raven, but eventually one cracked. Or rather, his arm did, before he decided to start talking. He had told Yang to meet someone who could give her the information, and that had led her onto the goose chase she had spent her day in.

Every encounter had just caused her irritation to increase, and her fuse had gotten shorter and shorter, almost lashing out and destroying the hideout she had most recently been redirected.

"Look, I know you're pissed, and I'm so sorry, but I swear, honest to god, that Junior has it! He even said that he has some contacts in the White Fang, and they had told him. Please, take your anger out on him, not me, oh god the pain, please, have mercy, I was only told to tell you to go to him, please set me down, I'm innocent! Please miss, please my arm really hurts and would you please point those away from my face, they look reall…"

Yang threw him against a wall, denting it, but shutting his rambling up. Yang knew that she had finally reached the end of her chase, and that Junior would either have the information that he had bragged about so carelessly, or he wouldn't be able to stand after she was done with him.

She turned her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica, back into their compact form, the golden bracelets she wore. Heading out of the run-down building that the latest victim of her anger had used as a hideout, she got on her beloved yellow and black sports bike, and peeled out.

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune sat at the bar drawing stares from everyone in the proximity. He had no drink in his hand, and a sword at his waist. A circle had cleared around him, which was for the best. The more he stood out from the average clubber, the more likely he was to be taken to Junior to have a chat.

He relaxed and waited for Junior to send someone to see what he wanted. He looked around, analyzing all the dancers, trying to see if there was anyone he needed to keep an eye on as time went on. There were the odd well-built individuals, the occasional pepper spray and stun gun, but nothing lethal and definitely no hunters, trainee or otherwise.

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. The guards themselves looked incompetent, which was great if he needed to escape the site on a moment's notice.

"The boss wants to know your business." A man in a black suit, red tie, and sunglasses had appeared next to Jaune.

"Yeah? Tell him I want to meet him. In private. I have some things that might interest him."

The man looked surprised at the quick, unintimidated response. Before he could respond, his earpiece squawked, and the man barely hid his surprise as he heard the command.

"Alright, the boss will see you. Follow me." The henchman/guard, as his position in the club was now obvious, turned stiffly away and marched towards a staircase in the far corner of the club. Jaune followed, not sparing a glance at anyone around him.

He climbed up after the guard and went through the door that the guard opened. There was a dimly lit hallway which was covered in thick padding. A door opened at the far end, with blinding light spilling out and silhouetting a man in a suit stood in the doorway.

"You said you had business with me. Come on in, let's get acquainted." The surprisingly friendly voice said. "Wouldn't do to be rude to a guest, eh?"

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Yang pushed the doors of the club open, and walked into the noise. One of Ruby's favorite songs, 'Red like Roses' was playing loudly over the speakers. She waded through the dance floor to the bar and sat down on a stool.

"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas." She ordered her drink and waved at one of the guards that were eying her suspiciously.

The one she waved to paled slightly, turned away, and ran up some stairs in the corner of the club. He was no doubt summoning Junior. She had a reputation among some of the other clubs for what she would call 'partying hard' and what most other people would call 'arson and vandalism of the highest order'.

 _Just a bunch of stick in the muds really. I mean, who doesn't like a good punch up?_ Yang examined a nail and letting the beat wash over her. Junior may not be the most enjoyable person based on the impression her contacts gave her, but at least his DJ had good taste.

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune and Junior were sat in Junior's comfortable office. There was soundproof padding even here, ostensibly to stop sound from getting in, but in reality to prevent anything sensitive from going out.

Junior poured both of them drinks from a decanter at his desk. Jaune studied him as the glasses were filled.

Junior was a tall, well-built individual. He wore a white shirt, a vest, and a red tie. The lack of a black jacket didn't surprise Jaune. He obviously had to stand out from the guards.

His sideburns continued to his beard, which also connected to his mustache. It looked well groomed. His eyebrows were thick and accentuated his grey eyes.

Jaune had originally taken Junior to be a confident man, but the small glances he kept throwing at Jaune quickly disproved that. Jaune also had noticed that even though Junior had vocally said for the guard to leave, he had motioned the guard closer, and Jaune had no doubt that he was standing at the door, ready to barge in to assist.

Jaune took the drink before setting it down on the desk harder than necessary. Junior frowned at that, but decided not to say anything.

 _So he's a coward too? Pumping him for information should be even easier, the criminal sucker._ Jaune tried to pump himself up by faking internal confidence.

In reality, Jaune was slightly terrified at the whole ordeal. He knew that these people would not pull their punches, and he would have to fight his way out of the club to prevent himself from being kidnapped. He could always abandon the body in a hurry, but he didn't want to let it fall into the wrong hands.

He kept his steady gaze on Junior while waiting for his first words.

"Alright, tell me what you want. Information? Guys?"

"No Junior, I think a better question is why you let me up here, into your office. You know nothing about me."

Junior stared at Jaune, who had blatantly changed the topic, as if challenging Junior to call him out.

As expected, Junior decided to not turn the conversation back. "Your name is obviously fake, I've never heard of you, and you strolled in here all casual-like, demanding to meet with me. I think it's obvious why I brought you here."

"Have you never heard of the Prometheans? One would expect a career information broker such as yourself to be better versed in these topics."

Jaune knew that there was no way that Junior could have any comprehensive about the Prometheans. Jaune had only started planting little bits of information on the CCT about their imaginary exploits. He knew that anyone trying to figure out a mystery would be more convinced of its existence if only bits and pieces of evidence were given. Anything less or more and the mystique of the entire thing is lessened. There was a reason conspiracy theories and ARG's were so popular.

"Only some claims about some jobs they pulled off, apparently with a single man. Didn't think they were real, but you seem to be one of them." Junior tried to sound authoritative, and mostly succeeded.

Jaune just smiled at that. "I do seem to be one of them, and I am happy to know you have at least heard of us. Glad to know you're decent at your job. Now, as you could probably tell, I need information. I am willing to trade for it."

Junior leaned forward, his hands clasped together on his desk. "Like I said, what do you want?"

"I want to know the big players are in Vale. Who's running what, what is happening where, and who answers to whom."

"You want a map of the underworld?"

"Yes, that is correct. Did I mention I will pay?"

"Why can't you just get that information yourself?"

"Now, now, that would take effort! And besides, I think you will want to get me that information once you hear what I have to offer."

"Alright, wha…" The door bust open. A guard ran in, panting. Junior looked at him in distaste while the henchman panted.

"Boss, Blondie, she's here, at the bar." The guard managed to get the information out between gulps of breath.

"Goddamit! Alright, I'll be there. Uhh, you Promethean, I'll be back. Potentially trouble customer."

Junior walked out the door. Jaune decided to ignore the hidden request to stay in the office and followed Junior.

As they went down the staircase, Jaune looked at everyone at the sizeable bar. There were a couple blonds, but they didn't look like threats. On the far side, a group moved away from the bar and Jaune instantly knew that the girl sitting there was the interruption of their meeting. Even from a distance, Jaune could see that she just _exuded_ trouble. Not good.

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Yang saw Junior walk down the staircase with a strange man in tow. The man looked young, and was wearing very casual clothing. There also was a sword at his hip, and Yang had no doubt he could use it. He was wearing a helmet indoors, which was something only police and soldiers did.

The man stopped a bit away and leaned on a pillar to watch her. She looked back, ignoring Junior's approach. She couldn't see anything past the mirrored visor, but she

Was he the informant? Was he going to tell her where Raven was? Could this be the end of the search? Yang didn't let herself get hopeful. She knew that that would only lead to pain later on when her hopes were dashed. Better to anticipate this being a dead end as usual.

The man nodded at the bar. Yang turned, startled that she had stopped paying attention to the world around her. Junior was leaning on the counter next to her, a scowl on his face as he motioned to the bartender for a drink.

"Aren't you a little young to be in this club blondie?" Junior's voice sounded like he was trying to be gruff.

She decided to quip back at him. "Aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?"

"So you know who I am. You got a name sweetheart?" Junior turned and leaned back on the bar.

 _He's going to be like that, huh?_

"Yes Junior, I've got several." Yang reached down suddenly and grabbed Junior by his sensitive spheres, causing him to squeal in pain. "But instead of sweetheart, you could just call me sir." Yang squeezed tighter with each word, causing the squeals to go equally high in pitch.

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune watched Junior try to be suave, but he could read past the front he put up. Obviously Yang scared him more than a little, and there were no guards nearby to help him out if she attacked. Junior was trying (and failing) to make sure the blonde didn't cause any trouble by flirting with her. Jaune had no idea what the expected result was.

Jaune kept watching as Yang's smile turned playful. They faced each other again, and Yang moved closer, saying something. Jaune tensed. He knew that he had to show Junior that he needed protection, but he didn't want Junior so badly hurt as to not be able to sign order forms.

He reacted swiftly then, when he saw Yang grasp Junior in a painful grip that left him doubled over and squeaking. He paced over behind Yang and placed a hand on her shoulder, closer to the neck than was polite.

"Yang Xiao Long, please do unhand my friend here." Jaune kept his voice neutral and lowered its pitch to sound more authoritative. Jaune didn't see any weapons on her and her clothing didn't cover enough of her to hide a blade.

 _But good lord is she jacked!_ She could probably kick his ass in a match of brute strength.

Yang turned around, curiosity on her face. Most people reacted _very_ differently to seeing their friend's berries getting bruised.

"Ooh, and why should I do that? He has information I need." Yang smiled without letting go of Junior. She could see him squirming in the mirror-like visor of the helmet and her smile widened.

"I have the same use for him as you do, Ms. Xiao Long. I would hate to see him break before I can get my information."

"Well, what if I say no?"

"Then I'm afraid we have a problem." Jaune was afraid it would come to this. He didn't want to cause any more of a scene, but Junior would give him a better deal on the required information if he threw a trouble making customer out.

Yang let go of Junior who nodded at Jaune and stumbled off. She continued to stare at Jaune, as she cocked her head. "A problem? Well, I'm sure we can figure this one out, stranger."

He gestured at the door. "Maybe we should take this outside? The atmosphere doesn't lend itself to this type of conversation."

"Ooh, walking out with a girl? People will talk." Yang walked over to Jaune, slightly swaying her hips.

"You're right, they would be jealous wouldn't they? Of you obviously." Jaune was more than happy to engage in wordplay.

Yang's eyes narrowed slightly at that. Jaune could tell what was going on in her head. Was it a compliment about her? Was it complimenting himself that people would be jealous of her for going with him? Who knew?

Jaune knew that quip had made him appear to be more than just brawn hired by Junior. He had no clue what would happen outside, but a hunch of his was growing stronger with every passing second.

He remembered reading an article in the news a few months ago about the newest batch of students that had graduated out of Signal Academy, Vale's combat school. One Yang Xiao Long had been noted in the article for outstanding performance in the Combat Tests.

Described as a blonde brawler who packed a mean punch, Jaune started to see the similarities between the newspaper's description and the girl in front of him. If she was indeed Yang, Jaune was in much deeper than he initially thought.

 _Of course she doesn't have any weapons hidden on her body, the weapons are her fists!_

He held out his hand towards the door, an invitation for her to go first. She hesitated, but complied, walking out into the cool night. He checked over his equipment and strategies before heading outside. He would need every ounce of training he had received so far to not get absolutely destroyed.

 _Here goes nothing, I guess._

 **Yang Xiao Long**

She examined the mysterious man as he walked out the door towards her. His sword was out, made of a black metal that gleamed in the moonlight. The blade itself was inlaid with some small crystals in the center, possible for decoration.

"Done checking me out?" The man's tone had gone from almost robotic to teasing, which frustrated Yang a little. She could generally read people with relative ease but this guy was sending some strongly conflicting signals.

She glared at him. "Just getting ready. You should too, you're going to need all the preparation you can get."

The response was only a yawn and a stretch of the arms. He detached something from the hilt of his sword. "You sure about a fight? You're going to damage public property just to get some information rather than waiting? Are you really that kind of person, Yang?"

"How do you know my name? I don't think I've ever met you."

"Call it a strong memory. Eidetic sometimes, but that's just self-praise." The helmeted figure twirled his sword around casually. Yang felt a slight stir of hesitation before it was burned away by her ego.

 _To hell with it, he needs to have the cockiness beat out of him._

Yang punched the air, activating her gauntlets. Her bracelet expanded outwards, covering her forearms, with a barrel above her knuckles. The weapon was fully loaded, with more shotgun rounds in the pouches on her belt.

Adrenaline started pumping through her body, sharpening her senses. Yang dropped down into her fighting stance. It was time to fight.

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune sighed as he saw Yang drop into a fighting stance. His first fight was about to start, and it was against one of the best fighters in Signal Academy. Just his luck. He held himself loose, not in any particular stance, ready to dodge or attack as he saw fit. It was one of the first things Glynda had taught him.

Jaune watched Yang shift her weight on the balls of her feet. She was using metal gauntlets as her weapons, which meant that she was a CQB fighter. Jaune altered his posture, holding the shield closed to his body and keeping his sword arm high.

As expected, Yang sprang forwards, her right arm's momentum increased significantly by a blast from her gauntlets. The fist hurtled towards Jaune's center of mass and Jaune dodged backwards.

He activated the Barrier Dust he had in his left hand. It was a special type of dust used at jails and borders. It would help block the force from Yang's punches but would break if she did anything powerful.

He ducked below Yang's second punch and deflected the third by angling his shield upward. Jaune jabbed at her over his shield but she blocked it with her other arm. The block was soon followed up by a powerful punch to his shield that sent him flying backwards.

He slammed into a truck parked on the side of the road and heard the metal groaning under the strain. Jaune groaned and opened his eyes to see Yang flying towards him.

She spun as she shot her gauntlets behind her to gain speed. She was going fast enough that any hit would do sizeable damage to his aura, which was something he could not afford. Thinking quickly, he sent his aura through a water crystal, sending out a highly pressurized blast of water out of his chestplate. It collided with Yang and she didn't have time to react to the pressure as Jaune activated an Ice Crystal and froze the stream.

The water started to crystallize rapidly from the outside in, creating a shell of ice surrounding a water center. His perception of time slowed down as he concentrated on pouring aura into the Ice Crystal, which did work to remove the thermal energy from the water. He could see the surprise in Yang's eyes as a cocoon of ice formed around her.

Yang's momentum had been largely countered by the large blast of water, and her velocity had dropped a good bit thanks to the added mass of the ice. Jaune held his shield up as the block slammed into the crater his body had created in the truck and shattered.

The force of the impact was enough to push the truck onto its side, leaving Jaune lying in the crater facing the sky. Grasping the sharp edges, he climbed out. He wobbled slightly in place at the speed at which he had expended aura just now. Firing a fast jet of water and then freezing it, all within a second?

 _Ugh. I'll have to thank Glynda for pushing me to do my advanced aura exercises. And my large aura reserves._

He checked his aura levels on his scroll and was happy to see that he was still at 80%, a healthy amount, but still shocking. 20 percent aura drain in the span of a few seconds was no joke; Yang packed quite a punch.

 _Speaking of which…_

Jaune walked around the truck to see Yang stand up from a large puddle on the ground. Her dress was soaked, but Jaune didn't complain. It wasn't his fault really. His eyes travelled up to see her red eyes glaring at him as she reloaded her gauntlets.

 _Wait wait wait,_ red _eyes? Didn't she have lilac eyes before? And what's with her hair?_

Her hair seemed to be alight, patterns of red and orange dancing through previously blonde hair. It seemed to come alive in a way he had never seen before, almost taking a life of its own as it swayed in an unfelt wind.

It would have almost been beautiful if the owner of the hair hadn't been currently staring at him with _furious_ red eyes. Jaune threw his shield up reflexively as she punched at him from a distance. His immediate thought was confusion. She was ten meters away, how was she going to hit him?

His query was answered a split second later as he felt something slam into his shield and light up the nearby area like a flare. The street resounded with the sound of the explosion, then again and again as the blasts continued to impact his shield.

Every time an explosive connected, he would be sent back a foot, his feet creating gouges in the asphalt. Rather than spending his aura in powering a weak Barrier, Jaune instead used that aura to empower and heal his muscles as they strained against the force of Yang's explosives.

Just when he reached an equilibrium against the forces of the explosives, something far more powerful slammed into the shield at an angle. The torque was enough to send Jaune spinning as the weight of his shield pulled him around.

A punched slammed into the small of his back and launched him into the warehouse neighboring Junior's club. His aura bore the brunt of the attack and the aura monitor on his scroll beeped a warning. Jaune didn't wait for Yang to follow up with any more attacks; it was his time to surprise her with _his_ power.

Utilizing his one Gravity Crystal, he turned the direction of local gravity by 90 degrees, into the wall. Jaune crouched on the wall with his shield up. He had stored aura in the crystal beforehand, to reduce the strain on his own aura in battle.

A grunt alerted him to Yang finally succumbing to the pull of gravity. Jaune sprung at her and started pummeling. Yang gave up ground for a second before she got over her disorientation and started punching back. Jaune lessened the effect of the crystal, making it feel as if gravity was pulling them to the bottom of the wall.

He braced against a window fame and slashed at Yang. Sparks jumped from her gauntlets as she blocked his slash. Jaune ran up the wall and used the slight downward pull of gravity to stab through Yang's defense and strike her stomach.

He let go of his sword as her aura absorbed the damage, not wanting to jolt his arm. He spun and slammed his shield into her exposed front even as he stopped the Gravity Crystal. Jaune followed Yang down to the ground, using his aura to boost himself at her.

Cracks spread through the concrete of the sidewalk as a force of close to half a ton slammed onto it, the kinetic energy of the falling bodies becoming heat almost instantly. Jaune rolled off her, his own white aura flickering against her yellow.

He kneeled next to her supine body and looked at the building behind him. The front of it was a mess, a large and two smaller craters marring the formerly uniform surface.

 _And she hasn't even begun formal Hunter training. This world must be brutal for such mutations to arise in humans._ As he watched, a diffuse yellow hue started to spread across the front of the building.

Jaune looked back at Yang to see her effused in her aura, which swirled into and out of her skin. It got brighter even as Jaune's faded back into invisibility. Her chest rose and fell with greater amplitude. Her nostrils flared and her hands curled into fists.

 _Round 2? Are you kidding? I can barely breath!_ He glanced at his aura meter, the screen blinking red. _50%, perfect._

Something had to be done before Yang got back up. He could feel aural exhaustion eating away at the corners of his vision and he didn't feel like getting ripped a new one tonight.

"Yang, please listen to me. Look around you, this damage could have been avoided. We both are injured, and just ending the battle now would prevent more damage, both to us and the surroundings." Jaune spoke quietly into her ear. He hoped that the words calmed her enough that they could parley.

His plea fell on deaf ears as Yang groggily got up onto a knee, shaking her head. Her red eyes glared at him, betraying no emotion but pure anger. Jaune gulped. Yang didn't seem to be one that could hide her emotions effectively, which meant that she was truly consumed by anger.

 _No wonder Berserkers were so feared._ Jaune barely dropped into a defensive stance when a fist slammed into his head and another slammed into his chest, seemingly from nowhere. He flew backwards, flying past a couple other warehouses before crashing through a tree on the side of the road.

 _Where the hell did she get that much power?_ Jaune rolled onto his feet to see the blonde walk towards him, her hair blazing with light. She cracked her knuckles. Jaune pushed himself to his feet and started to talk.

"Yang, please. Look at what this battle has led to. We nearly destroyed a goddamn building! This is completely ridiculous. You're an aspiring huntress! Is your job protecting people or harming them? Do you think your own selfish goals are more important than those of others?

Why do you really want to be a huntress? To gain power? To intimidate others? To further your own goals? None of those sound anything like a huntress to me. More like a crimi…"

Jaune only got that far in his speech before a shot from Yang's gauntlet smacked him across the face. _May have gone a little too far there,_ said a portion of his mind which was quickly overwhelmed by a more primal part.

 _She doesn't want to stop? Fine. Let's see if she has what it takes to defeat me!_ The rational part of his mind tried to wrest control back from this raw, primal part of him. It felt like a chained beast that had managed to get loose, all his frustration, anger, stress, passion finally released and now in control.

He straightened up, adrenaline washing away all the pain and exhaustion that had covered him like sap. It pumped in his veins and made the world brighter and the colors sharper. Time felt as if it went slower, every motion slower than he was used to.

Jaune straightened and stared back at Yang. And then he dropped his shield to the side.

Yang's eyes flickered slightly in surprise. Jaune dropped into a low stance with one hand discreetly in his belt. He watched her eyes, waiting for her to act. She didn't disappoint and leaped at him. Her arm was pulled back, orange light spewing from the back of the gauntlets as all the shots inside activated at once.

Jaune watched all this happen in slow motion, how Yang twisted in the air, her trajectory through the air, the destination of her fist. He took all of this into account and turned to his right, leaning back _just_ enough to avoid her.

She flew past him, abject surprise in her eyes as Jaune managed to dodge her hardest punch. The surprise was replaced by pain as Jaune smashed a bottle against her side. She crashed into the ground and doubled over in pain, grasping at her sides and rolling in the grass.

Jaune threw off the glove that he had held the bottle and kicked it far away. It fell in a heap, smoke pouring off the surface. He ignored it and walked over to Yang who was laying on the ground gasping. Her eyes were back to lilac and clouded with pain.

"What…what did you do? My aura…" Her voice was tinged with pain. She stared at his featureless helmet in a mix of pain, anger, disgust among others.

"A mix of acids, oxidizers, and dehydrators with water." Jaune knelt next to her and rummaged through a pouch. "Gasses go through your aura, the water reacts with them, the rest you probably felt first hand."

She continued to stare at him. Jaune sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about this. My intention was not to hurt you, but you didn't stop after we ruined this place. I had to stop this before either of us got permanently hurt."

Jaune took out a white crystal and placed it in her hands.

"What is that?"

"Aura crystal. It'll help your aura heal the wound. It's not bleeding is it?"

"What do you care?" Yang glared at him but she couldn't keep it up. Her aura enveloped the crystal and her expression softened. "Thanks."

"No problem." Jaune started to get up.

"You know…" Yang's voice was soft and low. Jaune lowered himself back into the crouching position. "I didn't really want to fight. But this damn semblance… Sometimes it just feels right to just fight you know? I didn't even know you, all you wanted was for me to leave, a little punch up, I don't know."

Jaune remained silent.

"Next thing I know, I'm going at it with all I've got and _I just can't help it!_ " Yang covered her face with her hands. Jaune awkwardly kneeled there next to her while she composed herself.

"This doesn't mean I forgive you, you…" Yang looked him up and down. "What is your name?"

"Promethean." He wasn't going to meet her again hopefully, so giving her a stupid name would prevent her from asking other people about him.

"That's a stupid name, but it matches your fashion sense." Yang smiled and sat up, her aura barely visible. "Thanks for the fight by the way."

"No problem?" Jaune dusted his knees off. "Anyways, you should skedaddle before the police get here."

Yang laughed. "Alright dad, will do." She walked off with that sway in her hips. Jaune watched her walk to a black and yellow bike, thoroughly bemused.

 _What the actual hell just happened?_

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	4. New Meetings

**Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune walked into the silent club, aura and physical exhaustion hitting him hard. His aura may act like a shield and a power up, but at low levels, it was like a wet blanket draped over his shoulders.

He walked past Junior's stunned gaze up the staircase into the office and waited for Junior to come. He sank into the couch and tried not to vomit as his head spun. The fall after an adrenaline high hits hard, especially after the kind of fight Jaune just had.

He focused on his breathing, trying to ignore the room spinning around him. He managed to get his breathing and his heart rate under control when Junior finally got into the room.

Junior just went to his desk, and upended his drink into his mouth. They sat in silence for a while before Junior decided to break the silence. "So you aren't all talk. You really have the muscle to back it up."

Jaune didn't even bother to reply. He knew Junior was musing more to himself than talking to Jaune. He tuned Junior out as he focused on not throwing up from aura exhaustion. He would have to fight this feeling all the way into Beacon until this body was safe.

"So. Seems like you got hunter trained while with the Prometheans?" Junior finally addressed Jaune directly.

"I think I'm the one collecting info here. Not you." Jaune gave Junior an unamused look. "And as for the payment, I think deterring the blondie from destroying your gonads and this club is more than enough as a first installment."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. According to everything I've heard about her, she's a real handful. Your fight proved that. For that, you can get all the information I have on anyone for doing that."

"The truth is the truth." He leaned in. "What can you tell me about Roman Torchwick?"

…

Jaune snuck back onto Beacon grounds using the same route he had used to leave. He unlocked his lab and lay the body down into the chamber as the sky started to lighten with the faintest hint of the Sun.

Closing his eyes, he focused on his actual body. His aura flowed from the clone to his real body like water. A cold breeze swept across his idea of self and he found himself lying on the floor in his real body.

All physical exhaustion was gone, leaving only the aural variety behind. He grabbed an Aura crystal from his desk and absorbed its stores, feeling better with each second.

Junior had been very talkative. He had told Jaune every single tiny detail about Torchwick's operation, from who he had been associating with, to what his men thought of him. Jaune had felt that the deal had been fair. It would be even easier to get Torchwick to not be an enemy.

The main problem with taking these trips daily would be the mental exhaustion. It wasn't very bothersome, but weeks of this routine would definitely take their toll on his mind. He set the matter aside; he could deal with it later. What was he supposed to do today? There was something that Ozpin had called him to the office for.

He set about setting up the day's experiments and procedures. After extensively experimenting with Shock Crystals, Jaune had a few rough sketches of a miniaturized version of a railgun. If he could get it right, he might be able to add it into his sword. He would become like the cool kids and have a swordgun. Only the biggest dreams for Jaune.

His scroll rang halfway through him machining a metal beam for the railgun. _New Message: Appointment Timing from G. Goodwitch_

Jaune opened it and saw that Ozpin had summoned him to his office at 9, which gave him around an hour and a half of productive work. Not bad. He continued work and finished with the structure of the railgun. He had ten minutes left before he had to go to Ozpin's.

He took ten minutes to refill the clone's Aura crystal before heading up to Ozpin's.

…

Jaune mulled over what was planned for Jaune's stay at Beacon as he walked through the hallways of the academic section of Beacon. The hallways were empty due to summer break and most students opted to either stay in their rooms or head to Vale.

Ozpin had reviewed his practice sessions and deemed him worthy of admission into Beacon directly. Jaune had negotiated with him to allow Jaune to skip the academic classes in order to spend time in his lab. Ozpin had agreed under the condition that Jaune took every test that the other students had to take. Any time his grades fell under excellent, his lab privileges would be revoked.

 _It was kinda nice not having parental figures to boss me around for a year. But what can you do?_

He turned a corner and bumped into someone. He looked up to apologize and saw the blue eyes of Professor Oobleck staring down at him, amusement in his eyes. "Well, it seems like our resident genius is preoccupied." Oobleck grinned as he pulled Jaune to his feet.

Jaune looked at his feet. "Sorry pr…I mean Doctor ". Oobleck nodded at his correction. "I was just thinking about the news the headmaster just dumped on me."

"Is this about your 'acceptance' into Beacon? I had no doubt you would be accepted; you have proven yourself to be an _excellent_ student." Oobleck took a sip of what Jaune would be willing to bet was pure liquid caffeine. "Ozpin also told me about your arrangement to opt out of academic classes. This sort of pass is not given lightly and I must stress upon you the importance of learning in class. I implore you to change your mind, but in case you do not, meet me on Friday at 3 o'clock for your first test."

Jaune took a second to process the torrent of words that had poured out of Oobleck's mouth. "Um, sure, that sounds good. What will it be on?"

"Splendid! I shall be contacting you on your scroll with the details. Until later Mr. Arc." Oobleck sped off in a blur.

Jaune shook his head at the eccentric professor. Small interactions over the couple of months that Jaune has spent at Beacon had warmed him up to Oobleck and Professor Port, getting used to both of their wildly different personalities. Underneath that, Jaune could see the passion and love both men had for their line of work, and Jaune respected that.

He almost smiled before realizing that Oobleck. hadn't answered his question. _Time to cram the entire syllabus. At least I have until Friday. Goddamit Oobleck._

Days passed this way, with his dumb suit AI coming along nicely. He had worked on a self-loading mechanism in the clones' armor sets that would be controlled by the AI. It would load the dust crystal of the required size and type. All the user would have to do was input the decision.

He had put in different types of input systems into the different armor types. Stealth suits had a system that required specific eye movements as input. Some suits had voice recognition, while others had physical gloves that had buttons in the palm itself.

Jaune had labored over this process of upgrading the capabilities of each of the suits. The infiltrator models (Promethean I's) had a helmet with a multitude of sensors that would interact with the HUD projected onto their eyes to keep an eye (heh) on their surroundings.

His brawler and tank varieties (Promethean B's and T's respectively) had sensors dealing with detecting incoming attacks. His longer ranged fighter varieties had small computers that would calculate bullet trajectories before the bullet was launched.

Aura monitoring was included in all models by default. After some thought, he decided to add self-destruct mechanisms to all the suits in order to prevent any of the technology from falling into enemy hands.

All in all, Jaune had kept himself busy upgrading his fleet of clone bodies and veritable armory of weapons. His railgun idea had worked _perfectly_. The first version could spit small balls of iron with enough energy to pierce a solid wall of iron. The next step would be to improve the loading and firing mechanisms, which could be described as _cumbersome_ at best.

As time was wont to do, it continued to move on. The last day of the school year came and went, with students celebrating in all corners of the campus. The only quiet place Jaune could find was in his lab, which suited him just fine.

All this work as Jaune did not mean that Jaune did not visit Vale during the month. He had gone out in a body with the Promethean I armor a couple of times, sneaking into gang hideouts and making off with the cash to create some commotion.

He had been stealing from every sort of criminal gang, always leaving the calling card of the Prometheans, a fiery P carved into a map of Remnant. He was never seen but he could tell by the continued complexity of security systems that sprung up in each little hideout they had.

His thefts had never been big enough to warrant focused attention, but they had been big enough to be a thorn in the side of every organization. He had also been stealing dust and weapons, causing inconveniences. He had some 'security' systems that he was developing to sell to these groups. These devices would break and malfunction, making it necessary to spend more to get higher quality.

It was basic business, create a demand and continue to increase it as you lag the supply slightly behind. He was going to bleed them dry in order to clean up the streets a little. It didn't hurt to make absolute bank on the side either.

After weeks of summer break, the realities of the inexorable movement of time set in. School was starting. Jaune knew that the rigor of school was a good thing, but he wasn't looking forwards to the _social_ aspect of it. He liked to make friends and spend time in their company, but was _terrible_ socially. It was a painful fact of his life.

Jaune waited at the front of Beacon, watching his new classmates approach the famous Academy. He smiled at the looks of wonder that were plastered on their faces as they walked through the Great Gates of Beacon and into the Main Hall.

He scanned the crowd for Yang, hoping to strike up a conversation. Based on what he had seen of her personality, she seemed the type to have a lot of friends. To be perfectly honest however, she was the only person he had any clue about.

He didn't dare to risk hacking into Ozpin's secured folders just to get a look at the new admissions. He was just going to familiarize himself with the names, not search them up or anything. Nope, nuh uh.

His eyes caught the sight of Yang's extraordinarily large and blonde hair as she walked through the crowd towards the front of the school. Someone walked alongside her, a petite girl in a red skirt with a red metallic rectangle at her hip. She seemed much too young to attend Beacon, but if Jaune could get in with just a year's training, anyone with enough drive and skill could too.

Before Jaune could even think of a way to approach them. Yang zipped off with a gaggle of people soon after. The girl with her called after her, to no avail. Sighing, she walked resolutely forward, eyes fixed on the building ahead of her, trying and failing to look at ease.

Her attempt got better as she continued taking steps, but it all fell apart when she tripped over a luggage cart and was sent sprawling amongst a barrage of white suitcases. Jaune quickened his pace, recognizing the label on the suitcases. Schnee Dust Corporation. He had heard on the news that the heiress was, in a surprising turn of events, moving to Vale to attend Beacon against her father's will.

She was short, about as short as the girl that Yang ditched from the looks of it. She had her white hair in a ponytail on the right side of her startlingly pale head. A fancy looking rapier dangled from her left side. Jaune's attention went to the dust chambers between the hilt and blade. They were round and set off from the rest of the weapon, which Jaune assumed to mean they rotated.

Jaune stopped near the now-arguing duo as a tall pale-skinned girl walked over to them, holding a dust vial that had gotten loose. She had a monochrome thing going on, with a black buttoned vest with a white undershirt that exposed her midriff. She had a large bow on her head that drew Jaune's eyes.

 _Is it…twitching? There doesn't seem to be much wind to move something of that size. Interesting._

The argument was now loud enough that Jaune could hear their shrill voices.

"I said I was sorry, princess." The girl in the red said, clearly frustrated.

"It's heiress actually." The newcomer's voice was soft and quiet. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of Dust in the world."

"Finally. Some recognition." Weiss's voice was haughty.

The newcomer wasn't done yet. "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." Her tone was quite dry as she said this sentence.

"Why…how dare…the nerve of…uh!" Weiss spluttered indignantly as she turned on her heel and marched off with her luggage cart being pushed along by black suited servants.

"I'll promise I'll make this up to you!" The girl in the red yelled at the retreating figure, which didn't turn around. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day." She mumbled. She turned to talk to the newcomer, but the tall girl was already walking off, deep in a book, her hair swaying behind her.

Jaune decided it was time to speak up. "Hey, don't feel so bad, I haven't talked to anyone all day."

She turned around and looked up at him. "Yeah, I guess it's too much to ask for everyone to like me on the first day. What's your name? I'm Ruby Rose, pleased to meet you." She stood straight and offered her hand with a smile on her face.

Jaune returned the smile and shook her hand. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

…

"So Jaune, hearing about the wilderness is super cool and all, but what's your weapon?"

The two had been talking and getting to know each other for the past few minutes. Ruby had told him about her sister Yang and her home back on Patch. Jaune explained how he used to live outside the kingdom, to which she had pestered him to no end about.

He had noticed how Ruby's hands kept moving to the metal rectangle on her waist. He didn't see anything else that could be a weapon, which meant that rectangle was her weapon. The constant touching probably meant that she was quite attached to it.

Taking these observations into account, he had managed to draw her attention to his blade. He couldn't keep answering questions about his made up questions for long. The distraction thankfully had worked.

His sword was still dust infused, though this one was longer with a wider blade. It had a longer hilt, like a longsword. It was perfectly balanced to suit him, and was constantly being tweaked as Jaune's strength changed. The sheath turned into a shield, and was built on a skeleton of carbon fiber to keep things light. The surface was layered with a super strong, yet comparatively light, metal alloy. Both pieces were colored white and gold, watching the coloring of his armor.

"Here it is! Only the shield really changes shape, and it's quite simple, but it's mine!" Jaune swung the sword through the air, pretending to stab imaginary enemies.

Ruby ooh'ed at the crystals embedded in the sword's blade, hilt, and the shield. "Are those dust? Isn't it dangerous to risk them getting hit?"

"Nope, they are exposed for a reason, it helps me utilize them easier. I also have ways of preventing any accidents, though it's a trade secret." Jaune grinned at Ruby's pout. They continued to walk towards the Great Hall as Ruby showed him her weapon, which he was definitely not ready for.

 _A goddamn high caliber sniper rifle embedded in a_ scythe _?! That is cra-a-a-a-zy!_

Their conversation ended as they walked into the great hall, where Ruby looked around at the vast space in awe. It was one of the biggest rooms at Beacon and could hold nearly 5000 people at maximum capacity. A raised platform on the opposite side of the hall served as a stage whenever Beacon held an event.

"Hey! There's Yang! I'll see ya around Jaune!" Ruby dashed off to a waving Yang before Jaune could say anything. He sighed and moved to a wall, leaning on it as he waited for Ozpin to come to the stage and make his speech. Thankfully, the wait wasn't long.

The headmaster walked onto the stage, causing a hush to fall over the crowd. The middle aged man moved over to the microphone, leaning on his cane, and adjusted his glasses.

"I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you are finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people.

But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin walked off, and Glynda took his place at the mic. "You will gather at the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

The crowd flowed into the ballroom, and Jaune turned away, heading to his own room. Tomorrow was a big day, and he intended to face the Grimm for the second time with more finesse than he had the first time. There would be no one but his fellow students and him in initiation. No Qrow to rescue him from the big bad Grimm.

He thought back at Ruby and Yang, to the monochrome stranger and Weiss. All such different personalities, all under the same roof here at Beacon. Just him and a bunch of teenagers with weapons and superpowers. Jaune could tell the next 4 years were going to be very, very interesting.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	5. Derezzed

**Jaune Arc**

Jaune woke early, both mentally and physically relaxed. He had not gone out last night, so as to be functioning at 100 percent mentally. He couldn't afford to mess up in a life-or-death situation. He got dressed, equipping the same sword and shield he had showed Ruby yesterday. He put on his usual belt, filled to the brim with all manners of explosives, chemicals, and crystals.

Dressed and ready for the day, he headed to the cafeteria, where he was sure all of the new students would be ravenously devouring the delicious food Beacon served. He stood in line to get food and searched the cafeteria for Yang and Ruby. He saw them on the other side of the cafeteria, but they seemed to be arguing over something, as Yang was trying to block Ruby's playful punches. Not a good time to say hello.

He swept his gaze around and saw Weiss with a redheaded girl that looked slightly familiar. Was she some sort of celebrity? Whatever it was, her smile seemed to be strained as Weiss continued to jabber on in her ear. A perfect time to save her from the boredom.

"So Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well known individual such as yourself."

 _She was trying to butter this 'Pyrrha' up._ Jaune grinned. If the heiress to the Schnee fortune was trying to chat someone up, that meant that that person was someone he needed to know.

"Hmm, I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha has a melodious, slow, voice that was quite pleasing to the ears.

"Well, I was thinking maybe me could be on a team together." Weiss said, a little too innocently.

"Well that sounds grand." Pyrrha said kindly. Jaune saw the triumphant expression on Weiss's face. He knew now was the time to strike.

"You know what else is grand? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you Snow Angel." Jaune suavely said, sitting down opposite of the two girls with his plate of pancakes and syrup. He casually cut a piece off and chewed as he waited for one of the two to respond.

"Nice to meet you Jaune." Pyrrha said kindly. She leaned slightly towards him, causing Jaune's lips to creep upwards a little. Pyrrha _really_ didn't want to talk to Weiss. Weiss glared at him, annoyance obvious.

"So I heard you two are planning on teams. Spots are still open on Team Jaune, care to join? There's a long waiting list you know." Jaune scooped up some applesauce.

"You, Jaune, do you have any idea who you are talking to? Either of us?" Weiss demanded, hands curling into fists.

"Not in the slightest, Snow Angel." Jaune continued speaking in the same, honestly irritating, tone he had been using so far.

Weiss seethed. "I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, only the most well-known company on Remnant!"

"Huh." Jaune looked her up and down and shrugged. "Thought you'd look stronger."

Pyrrha involuntarily smiled, but quickly hid her mouth with a napkin. Weiss glared at him in fury and shock. This boy was ruining her talk with Pyrrha and insulting her at the same time!

Jaune ignored her and turned to Pyrrha. "And what about you? Don't tell me your family owns some other large company, I think one heiress is enough in this school."

Weiss butted in before Pyrrha could even open her mouth. "You don't even know her?!" Her voice was shrill and full of furious surprise. "She graduated top of her class at Sanctum, breaking several records in the process."

"Sanctum? Never heard of it. Is that a school?" Jaune tilted his head in mock curiosity.

"She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, adding to her collection of records she holds." Weiss glared at him like she expected understanding to shower down on him.

He just shook his head. "Not a clue."

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" Weiss waved her arms around, exasperated.

"That cereal? Isn't it really unhealthy?" Jaune turned to Pyrrha to see an odd expression in her eyes, almost like suppressed happiness? He expected her to be a little disappointed or to think of him as an ignorant but slightly funny guy. He definitely didn't expect her to be happy with his answers!

"Yes Jaune, it is really bad for you." Pyrrha smiled. "And you really haven't heard of me?"

Jaune laughed. "I haven't heard of you in particular, but I have heard of Sanctum. I'm not that much of an idiot. Just pulling your strings Weiss, sorry."

Weiss's expression darkened further with anger.

Pyrrha was now not paying any attention to Weiss. "And as for the teams, I would love to be on yours, Jaune."

Jaune looked at her in genuine surprise. She was happy that he didn't recognize her? Wait, he had read something about this in a psychology journal.

"Wait, really?! Pyrrha, you don't know anything about him! He just admitted to not knowing arguably the most famous Huntress-in-training in all of Remnant!" Weiss looked a bit panicked as she saw her chances of wooing Pyrrha onto her team vanish in a Jaune-shaped cloud.

"If he is here at Beacon, I'm sure he is a wonderful fighter. I can also tell he has the traits to be a wonderful leader." Her voice was warm and friendly.

"Uh, thanks Pyrrha. That's really nice of you." Jaune managed to say, collecting himself. He returned Pyrrha's kind smile.

Before Weiss could voice her growing disbelief, the loudspeakers in the hall came to life. Goodwitch's voice boomed through the hall. "Would all first year students report to Beacon cliffs for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon cliffs, immediately.

Jaune waved his farewell to the two girls, one staring at him in fury, the other smiling at him happily. As he put away his tray, he thought to the surprising behavior Pyrrha had exhibited.

Jaune knew that most celebrities loved the attention the media gave them and that was the reason they did their job. However, there were some who hated the publicity that came with doing anything extraordinary. The media hounded them, trying to get into their lives, trying to peel back the shell that the individual put around themselves. Seems like Pyrrha belonged to this group of unwilling celebrities.

He merged into the crowd moving to the Beacon cliffs facing the Emerald Forest. Ozpin and Goodwitch were already waiting there in front of several square metal pads near the edge. Most of the students were already standing on the pads and Jaune followed their lead. He stood on one next to Ruby.

"So do you have any idea what the initiation will be about?" Ruby looked up at his question.

"No, it's a secret. It changes every year apparently. Only the teachers know what will happen."

Jaune hummed noncommittally and stared at the forest, thinking of the importance of standing on the pads. Pads, on the edge of a cliff overlooking a forest they had to fight in? He had a bad feeling about it.

Ozpin started speaking. "For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Goodwitch spoke up next. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Sounds of despair emanated from Ruby.

Ozpin continued the statement. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Jaune tuned the rest of his speech out. _Landing? They're going to launch us off this cliff? Why the hell did no one tell me? It's at least a 100-foot drop from the cliff edge!_

He reviewed strategies to survive the landing. Maybe he could flare his aura and hope to not die? Grab onto a tree branch? Pads started to launch their students as Jaune planned how to avoid what looked like an unavoidable death. He looked up at Ozpin and saw that the headmaster was grinning slightly. _That cheeky son of a-_

He couldn't complete his thought as the sudden acceleration overwhelmed his senses. The air stung his eyes and drew tears which interfered with his vision. He blinked them away and activated a prototype version of his HUD. This one consisted of a contact lenses on his eyeballs that filtered light to create splotches of color in his vision. He had programmed different colors for different alerts, such as aura levels or enemy movement behind him.

He had a bright light built into the inside of his shield. It would shine into his eyes to ensure that he could see the HUD even when inside dark areas. It had taken a while to get it right (any many near-blindings) and he had barely managed to scrape a prototype together for initiation.

He reached the apex of his arc and started falling. Deciding on a plan, he held his shield near his chest to protect his vitals. He activated the barrier crystal in his shield, and used small bursts of a gravity crystal to slow himself.

He had to conserve his aura, as who knew what faced him in the vast forest. All he knew what that he had to reach the north end of the forest and collect the relics there.

Seeing the treetops approach at a breakneck, Jaune sent out a large burst of aura through the gravity crystal, slowing him down considerably. He braced himself for a collision with the ground when he felt a tug on the hood of his sweatshirt.

He slammed into the side of a tree, his hood ripping as he bounced off the tree. He fell to the ground and felt his breath leave him. Gasping for air, he looked up at the tree to see what had hit him.

 _A javelin? Doesn't the idiot that threw that know that we're supposed to be hunting Grimm not each other? What the hell?_

Breath back in his lungs, he looked at the clearing he found himself in. He had pulled most of his aura to his chest, so there were minor cuts and bruises on his face, but that didn't bother him.

What did bother him was the group of 5 beowolves staring at him. He grasped his sword tightly and raised his shield. He knew they attacked in packs, and that they would try to distract him with feints and flanking.

He lunged forward suddenly, chopping at the paws of the closest one. The blade passed through like butter, smoother than Jaune had expected. The excess of power in the swing caused him to lose his balance and for the next beowolf to smack him across the chest.

If this was a year ago, Jaune would've been torn in two. Today, however, was a different story. His aura blocked the paw, and Jaune recovered his balance. Adjusting to the ease at which the blade cut through the flesh of the creature, Jaune sliced its head off with ease and turned his shield to block an incoming strike from a flanking beowolf. His blade flashed as it stabbed the creature of Grimm through the chest. Jaune turned the blade and sliced the Beowolf in two.

He ducked and rolled away from the now dissolving body, creating distance to survey the field. He saw the three beowolves looking at him cautiously. One seemed to have much more armor on him and Jaune could bet his sword wouldn't cut through him so easily. That was the Alpha, the leader of the pack.

One of the smaller beowolves launched itself at Jaune's head while the other went for his legs. Jaune brought his sword down, slicing through both beowolves with one swing. The bodies crashed into him, bowling him over. He had not been expecting that and fell over, hands trying to push away the dissolving carcasses even as he heard the triumphant growl of the alpha.

 _Smart girl,_ Jaune thought as his fingers slipped on the fluid leaking from the bodies. He managed to push the one on his chest off before the alpha was all over him. Its large claws slammed into Jaune over and over again, its weight threatening to suffocate Jaune.

He struggled to concentrate to get his aura under the beast to push it off, but the constant attacks by the monster rendered any efforts futile. As Jaune's breath began to run out and darkness began to seep into his vision, he heard a hum and a sickening crunch.

The creature slumped off him and Jaune saw a flash of red and gold leap over him to the fallen creature and decapitate it. He gasped, trying to inflate his lungs. Within seconds, his aura had started to heal the damage done to his face and insides.

Once he felt better, he got up on his knees to look at his savior. Startling green eyes looked back at him. _They really are very pretty_ , Jaune's instinct said but he quickly stifled that thought. That side of him had been giving him trouble for quite a few years and had been quite vocal lately.

"Hello again Jaune! I guess we're partners now." Pyrrha's voice was warm, friendly, and comforting as usual. Jaune stood up, smiling in relief at his luck. Out of everyone at Beacon, Pyrrha was probably the best person he could have had on his team.

"I guess we are. Thanks for that save, that Alpha really was a handful, more than I expected" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

Pyrrha smiled. "We're partners now; we need to watch each other's backs for the next 4 years. Now let's go Jaune, we need to find the relic that Ozpin told us to find."

"Right. Do you know where to go?"

"Of course. The professor told us to go north, and north is that way." Pyrrha pointed in the direction from where she had come.

"Alright, that sounds good." Jaune started to follow Pyrrha as she turned to exit the clearing. "Oh! Wait a second Pyrrha, I need to get something."

He went to the tree where the javelin was stuck in. Peering through the branches, he could find no trace of the javelin.

 _That's weird, the javelin should be easy to find, it's red and gold! Wait. Waaaait a second._

Jaune whirled around, seeing Pyrrha's confused eyes. He looked down, seeing her sword, red and gold, just like the sword, strapped to her waist. Narrowing his eyes, he looked back at Pyrrha, who looked even more confused now.

"Pyrrha, does your sword transform in any way?"

"Why yes, Milo here has a javelin form. Why do you ask?"

" Milo skewered me through my hood to the tree during my landing. Please tell me that was an accident."

Pyrrha laughed slightly guiltily. "I wish I could, Jaune. You looked like you were falling too fast, so I tried to help by catching you with the javelin. It was the only thing I could think of at the time."

"Eh, it's no big deal, I'm alive, that's all that matters to me. Now, let's go get those relics!" Jaune wasn't sure how he felt about her problem solving tactics, but at least it was original. Originality was good on the battlefield.

…

"Are you sure that this is it? I mean, it looks a bit foreboding and generally evil. Not my cup of tea."

Jaune and Pyrrha were standing in front of a large cave that went deep into a hillside. It was marked with ancient looking pictograms of stick figures fighting a Deathstalker.

"Maybe Professor Ozpin wanted to give us a challenge?" Pyrrha sounded unsure.

"Well, I'll go in. I won't try to fight, and will run out immediately when a threat presents itself. Deal?"

Pyrrha nodded, seeing the benefit of sending in a scout. She turned and started guarding the entrance from any threats in the forest.

Jaune pulled out a small pair of goggles which he fitted over his eyes. They perceived infrared light as well as sound waves to create an image of the world. With them, Jaune could get a better view in the dark, but they were far from perfect. The image wasn't fully accurate and had very low resolution. The image feed lacked any form of stabilization and was not real-time, but it was better than any other option.

Jaune led the way in, scanning the walls for any recent gouges in the walls. Continuing further, the cave opened up into a large cavern. Something cooler than the surroundings flowed near the entrance and Jaune confirmed it was a stream when they stepped over it.

In the center of the otherwise pitch black cavern. Jaune saw a blob of something that was hotter than the surroundings. He started backing out, trying not to draw any attention to himself.

 **SPLASH**

The sound of his foot entering the stream was like a gunshot in the silence. The mass in front of him shifted, getting bigger as the creature seemed to rise up.

"Oh wonderful, just great." Jaune turned tail and rain, dropping some proximity based explosives. He had created many of the explosives used on Earth, such as gunpowder, and had decided to use them alongside Dust. It would be distinctive to the Promethean order, cheap to use and produce, and would be something his enemies had never seen before.

A lot of the explosives that Jaune could create were much better cost-wise than forming proper ratios of energy, fire, and lightning dust in a mixture.

He burst out of the cave as it started to collapse, the explosives rattling the entire structure. He saw Pyrrha look startled at the sudden chaos inside the cave and didn't start running until Jaune grabbed her hand and started pulling.

"Jaune what the hell did you do back there?"

"I saw a large cavern, huge deathstalker inside, it started to chase me, I threw down explosives, and now we're running away hoping we live and it dies." Jaune stated, breath shallow from running in a flat out sprint.

Hearing the enraged roars of the deathstalker, they dodged trees, jumped over roots, and avoided tangling themselves in vines, only to crash into a red and white duo.

"Why does everyone insist on running into me?!" Weiss cried out. She was sprawled on the forest floor, beating the ground with her fist.

"Ruby, Weiss, we need to skedaddle, now! There's a deathstalker on our tail and I may or may not have dumped lots of rocks on it. Let's move, now!"

The two didn't question him, and they all ran from the giant scorpion-like Grimm.

"Hey Blake, is it just me or is that a giant Nevermore over there?"

Yang and Blake, newly partnered, had collected their relics and were waiting on the others to catch up.

"It does seem like a giant Nevermore. I wonder what's got it agitated?" Blake queried, quiet as usual.

Her question was immediately answered as a huge dust cloud rose over the forest, followed by a shock wave.

Yang and Blake looked at each other in shock. What the hell produced an explosion of that size? Was someone hurt?

They both nodded and dived back into the forest.

Once Jaune saw the Nevermore flying overhead, he knew he had to pull out the big guns. Dropping back, he slowed his pace slightly. He was last in the pack and the others quickly gained ground as they ran for their lives.

He stopped once they were out of sight and got to work, pulling out small shaped charges from his back pockets. All of them were carefully prepared to do maximum damage to a single target and were powerful.

But that wasn't all Jaune had in his arsenal. He had one very high yield bomb he had been saving for an emergency. _If a Giant nevermore and a Giant deathstalker aren't_ _emergency enough, I don't know what is._

He set the device into the ground. It was very small and wouldn't create anything close to a crater. But what it did do was create a very large, very high energy shock wave that would boil blood, wreak havoc on tissues and bones, and generally be classified as "not fun". It was something that would cause military engineers back on Earth salivate, but was only possible thanks to the miracle of Dust. The correct proportions of different forms of Dust could give off _quite_ a bit of sound energy.

He connected the trigger to another proximity sensor and ran like hell in the direction the other three had gone. He knew that they would have to take care of the Nevermore later, but getting the Deathstalker off their backs was a priority.

He had scarcely run 200 meters when the device went off. The Deathstalker was much faster than Jaune had anticipated, which was a very, _very_ grave mistake.

It was like nothing Jaune had ever felt before. The air itself seemed to become solid, pushing his body forward like a mere plaything. His aura strained under the pressure as it tried not to let his body get harmed.

Sadly, aura doesn't work very well on preventing internal injuries and Jaune was keenly aware of this fact as he felt some organs inside him burst, each followed by a blast of pain.

He flew through a dozen trees, his aura getting pushed to the maximum with no barrier dust blocking any of the damage. Jaune's HUD was blinking red rapidly, indicating 15% aura levels. The light got redder and redder and increased its frequency to warn him of decreasing aura levels.

Jaune couldn't take note any of this as he lay amid the fresh logs of the trees he had been thrown through. He couldn't feel his legs, his arms were twisted at odd angles, and blood flowed from his mouth, creating a small pool under his head.

His mind felt as if cotton balls were being stuffed in every corner of it. The world was alternating between a white haze and a red flash. His eyes couldn't focus on anything and rolled in their sockets. He wanted nothing more than to just let go of his pain and drift away.

The only thing holding him back was his aura, steadily working on his body, bringing life back to him. His head slowly cleared and he coughed, knowing that if blood started to congeal in his throat, he would choke to death.

His eyes focused on the incessant blinking of the HUD. The red was deep red, which meant he was disastrously low on aura. He attempted to pull from his aura reserves in the crystals in his belt to no avail. He was far too distracted by the pain to focus on his aura store. Jaune lay there, the pain gradually increasing in magnitude as the numbing effects of his aura stopped.

His lungs felt as if they were burning. His breathing grew shallow and he felt as if he was drowning. _This is the end, and what a truly shitty end it is. Wonder what my tombstone will say. 'Unknown idiot, killed by his own bomb'. What an end. Just another statistic._

Jaune's self-pity was cut short as a shadow fell over him. _Wonderful, I don't even get to die by myself. Hopefully the Grimm makes it quick._

He felt something jab into his neck, and he fell headfirst into unconsciousness.

…

Jaune awoke in a hospital bed. His eyes flew open and the first thing he noticed was a solid green light. _100 percent aura. I'm still alive?_ He looked out the window. _Nighttime._

Jaune checked the rest of his body, feeling everything working and no pain anywhere. He rolled out of bed and stepped onto the cool floor. He was wearing bright blue hospital pajamas that did nothing to stop the nighttime chill.

He looked around the room and saw none of his items there. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Dim ceiling lights gave enough illumination to traverse the eerily quiet halls.

He followed the signs to the lobby, hoping to contact someone as there was no scroll or bell in his room. He walked under the dim lights, feeling slightly unnerved. _Where are all the doctors and nurses? Shouldn't someone be checking on the patients?_

Finally coming to the lobby, he reached the counter. There was no one there. He rang the bell to get attention, but there was no response. Now fully mystified, he walked to the nearest room and looked inside. The machines lay dead and the bed was empty.

He moved down the hallways throwing open doors to the same result. There was no one in any of the rooms and Jaune suspected there was no one in the entire hospital.

Running now, he went out the doors of the lobby into the grounds of Beacon Academy though they were nothing like he remembered. Craters littered the ground, and ash lay upon the land like a blanket.

The towers of the academy, at least those still standing, were full of holes and fire licked the air from many of them. Smoke rose from many of the others and one even crumbled as Jaune watched.

The sky was red with the amount of dust and ash in the air. The sun was reduced to a dim red circle. Jaune sprinted to the Beacon cliffs and gazed out over the Emerald Forest.

Or what used to be a forest. The once splendid and rich forest was now replaced by a barren wasteland. Like the Beacon grounds, this place was also marked with craters, but there were also countless shells of airships and other vehicles littered throughout.

Still refusing the facts and conclusions his brain presented to him, he rushed to the airpads to look at Vale.

It was a ruin. Glass littered the wrecked streets and reflected the red sky. The standing husks of the formerly proud buildings hunched, supporting structures exposed. The lighting colored them a ghastly red.

Jaune reeled from the sight, finally accepting the conclusion. Vale and Beacon had been destroyed by unknown forces, likely Grimm. Everyone was missing, probably long dead. How was it that he was still alive?

"You have finally started asking the right questions, Jaune Arc." A cold, soulless, malicious, and dangerous voice broke the silence. It was undoubtedly feminine.

Jaune whirled, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"Oh Jaune, how long I have waited to talk to you. Ever since you first unlocked your aura, you made such waves as I have not seen for years!"

"Where are you? Who are you?" Jaune still couldn't find the speaker.

"Jaune, I'm not going to reveal myself to you, yet. But do know that I will be getting in touch with you, soon. All you need to know is that I am someone who has known you…intimately. You have nothing to fear from me; I am simply trying to help you the best I can."

"What about all this? What happened here?!" Jaune couldn't help but become angry at the casual tone the unknown entity used.

"Oh this? This is but a small glimpse of what the world will look like if you follow that fool Ozpin's lead. Think of it like a gift. Foresight is a very valuable tool, Jaune. I'm sure you can figure out the message I'm trying to get across here."

"So you're saying that if Ozpin has his way, it will end in the destruction of the world? And I can help prevent that?"

"Yes."

"This is ridiculous. How do I know you aren't lying?" Jaune couldn't make any sense of the situation at all. What was this place? Was he dead? Was he in a coma?

"How do you know Ozpin isn't lying about trying to protect humanity?"

"I…well…" Jaune truly had no answer to that. His brain was fried trying to figure out how his mind was being hijacked to show him these visions.

"Exactly. Jaune, one thing you need to learn is that there is no black and white in this world, only shades of grey."

"Was the whole point of showing me all of this was to tell me not to trust Ozpin?"

"Oh no, not at all. The point was to show you the outcome of the path that you lead currently. All this death and destruction, all due to youngsters misguided by older mentors. It's a chess game to him, did you know that Jaune? Sacrificing a piece to capture another. Giving up a rook to get the queen. Do you feel remorse about your pieces during the game? Why do you think he is any different?"

"Because he's on the board with us pieces? That's probably why, don't you think?"

"Oh really? Do you really think he is like you and your classmates Jaune? Like any other human in Remnant? Can you be sure everyone is on the same playing field?"

Jaune stayed silent. _Was she saying Ozpin is playing a different game? Is she trying to say Ozpin isn't human?_

"I think my point has been made. Think upon this, Jaune. We shall meet again. I am looking forward to it."

The world fractured into a thousand shards, each glowing brighter and brighter until his vision was entirely white. Once this blinding whiteness cleared from his vision, he was in the same hospital as he had been in the vision the voice has shown him. He looked over at the side table and saw a rook resting there.

A chill went through him as he recalled the voice's words. _Giving up the rook to get the queen._

He put the thought from his head as he checked his scroll, which lay next to the rook. The date was the day after initiation. Which meant he took less than 24 hours to go from Jaune "Soupy Insides" Arc to normal Jaune. Incredible.

He pressed the button on the side of his bed to summon a nurse. One came quickly and checked his vitals. He opened his mouth to question her, but she seemed to anticipate that he would be asking questions.

"Your teammates and friends are waiting outside. I'll let them answer the questions." The nurse walked out of the door, leaving it open behind her. Ruby, Pyrrha, Yang, and two others came in, followed by Professor Ozpin.

Jaune's breath froze as he recalled the warnings the voice in the vision had given him. He subconsciously turned his head to look at the rook and back at Ozpin.

Ozpin looked calm as usual, but his eyes held the real story. They were scrutinizing him, stripping his defenses, reading his secrets. Seeing the slight turn of the head to the rook, understanding dawned in the eyes.

He stared solemnly at the piece and at the accusing glare in Jaune's eyes. His eyes grew soft at that, almost remorseful. Looking into his cup, Ozpin spoke up, tiredness seeping into his voice.

"Jaune, I fear we have much to talk about."

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	6. Hitchhikin'

**Jaune Arc**

There was silence in the room as everyone looked between Jaune and Ozpin, who both looked like they were having a staring contest. Jaune had a conflicted look on his face while Ozpin looked calm as usual.

"But that talk can wait. I'm sure your friends have lots of things to say." Ozpin ducked out of the room, clutching his steaming cup of coffee tightly.

As soon as the door closed behind the headmaster, the chatter started.

"Jaune, what were you thinking? You almost died!" Ruby cried out, her voice heavy with concern. "i don't want to lose my only friend here!"

"But you gotta admit, the explosion was pretty cool." Yang said. She welped as Ruby dug her elbow into her side and elbowed Ruby back.

Jaune tuned them out as they fought between them, still staring at the door. Ozpin seemed...strange today.

 _And what was all that about Ozpin not being on the board with us? He seems human and seems to care deeply about the safety of the students. And why did her words affect me so much? I mean, for all I know she's just doing this to unsettle me. Hell, it could just be a nightmare for all I know!_

"Jaune, are you alright? You seem a little distracted." Pyrrha finally spoke up.

"Yeah, almost dying will do that to you." Jaune say Pyrrha's expression and immediately felt bad. "Sorry about that, just thinking of some stuff."

"Jaune…" Pyrrha started in a reproaching tone.

"Pyrrha, relax! Jaune's alive, so everything is fine. Anyways, what was up with the explosion? Do you remember anything before that point?" Yang turned away from Ruby and looked at Jaune.

"Well, I remember setting the charges that caused the explosion and running like hell. That's when the explosion happened." Jaune said offhandedly, as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

A stunned silence met his statement.

"You…you set off that explosion? Why? Being that close to the explosion, it was dangerous!" Ruby piped up, eyes wide.

"Well, I knew that that deathstalker was bad news and I knew it would be difficult to fight both it and the Nevermore at the same time. So I rigged that up to kill the Deathstalker and distract the Nevermore so you guys could get away. Simple decision, really."

They all contemplated that while Jaune looked at each of them in turn.

Ruby spoke up again. "How did you manage to create such a large explosion? You only had the gadgets in your pouch, nothing that could've created such a large explosion."

"Like I said Ruby, trade secrets. But I will tell you one thing, sound can be really powerful."

Ruby looked even more confused at that, but decided to drop the issue.

Jaune glanced at the duo that lingered by the door, one chattering constantly into the other's ear.

The talkative one looked short with short orange hair. Her turquoise darted around the room wildly and her arms flailed in passionate motions. She wore a collared black vest and a sleeveless white top with a heart shaped hole near the neck. She had matching pink fingerless gloves on, and a mid-thigh length pink skirt.

Her partner was quiet and stared at Jaune while seemingly ignoring his talkative partner. He had long straight black hair that hung down his face. One strand was painted bright pink, the same color as his eyes.

He wore a forest green long-sleeved tailcoat with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. Wrist armor was visible when the sleeve moved up his arm. He also wore light tan pants that lacked any design.

"So, uh, what's the team situation Pyrrha? Who'd we end up with?"

"Ozpin announced the teams after you were declared stable. They're the other half of our team, team JNPR. She's Nora and he's Ren." Pyrrha pointed at the talkative one and the quiet one in order.

"That's pretty cool. So which one of you three is the leader?" Jaune looked back at Pyrrha.

"Uh, none actually. Ozpin made you the leader."

Jaune almost sprang out of bed to find Ozpin and strangle him. His lab time was already cut short due to school but now Ozpin made him team leader? He would have to plan activities, help his team out with any problems. As a wise woman once said, 'Ain't nobody got time for that'.

"Uh, do you think he's going senile? I mean, I almost killed myself with my own bomb and he made me leader? That defies all logic!" Jaune desperately looked at each member of his team, even Ruby and Yang, for support.

"Jaune, he saw the same thing I did in the cafeteria yesterday. You have the qualities to be a wonderful leader. Just give yourself a chance."

Jaune sighed, realizing he couldn't win this.

"Alright fine. I'll be the leader. Now let's go, we've waster enough time talking as it is."

Jaune climbed out of bed and followed his new team out the door and to his new room.

It was spacious, with two beds on each side of the room. There was an attached bathroom and kitchenette, as well as four small wardrobes next to the beds. There was a window to the outside opposite to the door and it gave a great view of the Beacon grounds.

 _The same grounds that she showed me, desolate and destroyed. Damn it, why does that keep coming up?_

Jaune saw suitcases already unpacked next to three of the beds, and moved to sit on the empty one. All his stuff had already been packed in his room before initiation and it had been put in a corner.

He retrieved it and started packing away his stuff inside the wardrobe while his teammates chatted quietly. He went to the bathroom and changed out of his hospital garb into more comfortable clothes.

He went back to his bed and joined the conversation during a lull.

"So Ren, Nora, where are you guys from?"

Nora was the one to speak up, unsurprisingly. "Oh Ren and I are orphans, we were admitted to this school when we helped defend our town from a large Grimm invasion. Ren was so cool, slicing beowolves apart and blowing their heads off with his fists, and me, well I was careening through the air, smashing into everything and blowing stuff up! Ren and I work really well together since we've live together for years, but not together-together. I really like pancakes and Ren is really quiet and I like that because he listens to me, and he is amazing. He also is really smart and helps me out. He cooks the best pancakes and omigod they are the best things ever! Did I tell you I really love pancakes? His are so soft and I love putting maple syrup on them and- "

"Nora." Ren interrupted her rambling as Jaune and Pyrrha looked on in shock. How did Ren manage to survive with this veritable fountain of energy for years?

"Sorry Ren, I just got excited. We already know about Pyrrha here, but what about you, fearless leader. What's your story?"

Jaune was tempted to say 'Oh, I'm just from across the universe, ended up here, almost died once, and have invented such things that would blow your mind. Oh did I mention I have clones I can possess? Can't forget those.'

"I'm actually not from here, I travelled here from afar, outside of the Kingdoms." Jaune said instead, not technically lying.

"Outside of the kingdoms? Life must have been tough." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. To me it was all I'd known." His life indeed had been tough, but not because of Grimm, but because of problems he couldn't solve. He let them draw their conclusions from his statement.

"Anyways, we can know more about each other later. It's almost 9 and we have classes starting tomorrow. We don't want to be late on the first day, do we?" Pyrrha gathered some clothes and headed to the bathroom to change, leaving behind a schedule.

 _First Year Schedule for Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos, of Team JNPR_

Apparently partners had every class together, except for some extra classes Jaune had to take due to being a leader. He noticed that every class on their first day was academic and breathed a sigh of relief. He would have the whole day to himself in the lab.

The joy turned sour when he realized that he was now an assistant in the Weapons division and would have students coming in to get his help with their problems. _Damn it all, why did I even accept this?_

Pyrrha got out of the bathroom and Nora went in next. Jaune strode over to Pyrrha and nudged her, speaking quietly.

"Pyrrha, I am so sorry, but I will not be able to attend any academic classes with you, since I will be working in my lab in the R&D wing. Again, I am so sorry, but I really have no choice. My research is really that important."

Pyrrha looked at him stunned. "Wait, so you're telling me Ozpin took you on to do research here at Beacon? You have your own lab?" Something akin to realization dawned on her face. "Ozpin told us Beacon had a bright new Weapons assistant that would help us with any weapon problems we had. Is that you too?"

Jaune smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that's me."

Pyrrha smiled, a little amazed. "Jaune, you must be exceptionally brilliant!" Another realization seemed to hit her. "Did you make all the gadgets you carry yourself?"

"That's right, every single one, made by yours truly."

"You'll have to show me what they do soon, they looked very interesting."

"Will do." Jaune turned away and slipped into his bed. He felt better than he had in the past week which was ironic since he had just recently almost died.

His aura was completely full, and he felt well rested. The real reason for his happiness lay in the fact that he now had friends that cared for him. For the past several years of his short life he had never truly had friends outside of his family, merely teammates and acquaintances.

He smiled before slipping into the now-familiar shell of the Prometheus C for a night on the town.

Today was a special day for today was the day Jaune had decided to confront Roman Torchwick. He had worked to bankrupt some of Roman's allies and suppliers. He had also finalized deals with various other competing groups to supply them with slightly superior technology for a lower price.

Overall, the past month was spent forcing Roman into a desperate position, where he would make bad decisions and generally make Jaune's life easier.

He had been upgrading this particular Prometheus C suit with some of his prototype technology. He had placed multiple sensors over the clone's body that connected to a motion tracker and alert system on the HUD. It would be hard to surprise Jaune, but not impossible. Anything faster than the average first year student at Beacon could not be easily blocked due to Jaune's reaction times. They still gave him a warning and that was better than nothing.

Jaune had added a full head helmet to his outfit that had a better HUD and more complex computer systems. He had attached a rear facing camera to better see his periphery and though the whole effect of looking backwards was disorienting and confusing, it was worth it. Along with the helmet, Jaune had also donned gauntlets that covered his forearms, similar to Yang's. Instead of firing Dust rounds, he had installed nozzles that sprayed gas or powders. Jaune knew that gasses were not blocked by aura and he intended to exploit that.

One of the chemicals he had was chlorine trifluoride, a chemical that would burn almost anything it came in contact with, except a couple metals. Jaune intended to use this as a trump card, since he knew it would devastate whatever it landed on, potentially killing the enemy. The other chemicals were less deadly, but not less potent. One of them was thioacetone. A volatile substance, even minute quantities of it would render anyone who smelled it violently ill and unable to do anything.

He had built an air filtering system into his helmet but as with everything, it wasn't perfect. Jaune would still have to exercise caution around anything toxic.

 _I feel sorry for anyone close by when I have to self-destruct this body. Getting blown up, set on fire, and becoming violently ill is never fun._

Junior, who had been constantly feeding Jaune information in exchange for security, had told him Torchwick would be hitting a dust store in South Vale that night. The store was in a suburb but set away from the rest of buildings.

Jaune had no idea what Torchwick had been thinking of doing with all the Dust he had been stealing for months, but whatever he was doing, he was not selling it. The prices of Dust had been going up, causing Jaune consternation as his supply had been getting slightly smaller over the month or so he had been at Beacon.

Walking through the dark streets, Jaune was quiet and none of the people noticed him as he walked by. The less people saw of his very peculiar getup, the better. He didn't want his picture on the front page of every newspaper in Vale the next day as that would make it harder to use this body in public.

He turned the corner into the street the store was on and walked in. It was a bright, cheery place with crystals of every sort in display cases. A white haired ancient looking man was at the counter and looked bored out of his mind.

Jaune took his time walking through the store, pretending to look at the variety of crystals and vials of the powdered Dust as if contemplating a purchase.

After about 5 minutes of aimless wandering, the door opened again. A tall, orange haired, bowler hat wearing man stepped in, swinging his cane around his finger. His eyes were slanted and dark green, one covered by his bangs. He wore a long white suit with a grey scarf around his neck.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here. A Dust shop, unguarded, with no one around to help. Now, you can already tell what I want, and unlike you, I do have help. Boys!" The man, who could only be Roman Torchwick based on Junior's description, called. At his command, men in black suits and red ties streamed into the store and took their positions at the entrance.

 _And the presence of Junior's men confirms it. There's the man of the hour._

"Now, I want you to hand over every ounce and every single speck of Dust you have in this here shop. I don't have all day, I got places to go, people to rob blind." Roman continued, tone condescending. He continued to bark orders at the help, insults towards their intelligence and their worth scattered throughout.

After all the Dust was packed away, Torchwick turned and motioned for the men to follow him. They trudged after him, carrying boxes upon boxes of crystals and powder. Jaune followed, moving into the shadows of the street.

Torchwick strutted around a corner into a large space between buildings and looked up. Jaune crouched near the alley entrance and peered upwards hoping to see what Torchwick was waiting on.

His question was soon answered as a Bullhead appeared, lights off, engine quiet. It hovered and lowered itself to the ground. Torchwick motioned again and the men began loading into the cargo space of the Bullhead which had opened as it landed.

Torchwick watched for a little while, muttering things about the help's "unfortunate brain damage" and "lowered intelligence".

 _Junior wasn't kidding. This guy has arrogance down to an art._

As the number of crates wound down, Torchwick walked into the airship. The door started slowly closing behind him and Jaune managed to dart in. He was in a very small room with four chairs and two doors. One door led to the back of the aircraft, presumably to the cargo hold and the other to the front. That door had closed as soon as Jaune had entered.

Jaune sat down in a chair, waiting for liftoff. The door to the cargo hold opened, almost smacking Jaune in the face. It closed and one of Junior's men walked through, missing Jaune behind the door. He continued on to the cockpit door and knocked thrice and then turned and walked back into the cargo hold.

The engines rumbled to life, the seat vibrating beneath him. The craft rose up and hovered for a second before accelerating forwards. Jaune noted the direction the craft was heading in based on the compass in his HUD. He had a rough idea of the speed at which Bullheads travelled and from that he could deduce the location of the safehouse the Dust was to be stored in.

The trip didn't take long, minutes at maximum. The lights turned on and Jaune adopted a casual pose, waiting for Torchwick and the pilot to step out.

The door slid open and Torchwick stepped out, his head to the cockpit. "Yeah yeah Neo, real funny. At least this operation went smoothly, no little red girls to screw us ov…who the hell are you?"

Torchwick had finally turned his around and saw Jaune sitting there innocently. His expression was a curious mixture of surprise and confusion and Jaune knew he would remember it for a long time. It was just hilarious on the man's face.

Jaune feigned confusion. "Who me? Why Torchwick, you must have heard of me, no?"

Torch wick's composure returned, though slightly tinged with apprehension. "The Prometheans saw fit to deal with me directly? No more stealing from my suppliers?"

"That's right Torchwick, you little genius you. They wanted me to have a little chat with you. I'm sure your large brain is able to figure out a reason?"

Torchwick merely grit his teeth and opened his mouth. Thinking better of it, he turned and yanked to door open and stalked out. Jaune got up, stretched and followed. It felt good to have the upper hand so far.

He followed Torchwick into a large warehouse. The inside was dark, but Jaune could see stacks on stacks of metal crates crammed into every corner.

Jaune almost whistled. _This is enough Dust to run an army. What the hell is he going to do with all this?_

Torchwick continued to say nothing, leading him to the far corner of the warehouse where took some stairs down to an underground room.

Like Torch wick's clothes, it was lavish and well furnished. There was a liquor cabinet on the wall and a sofa next to it. A TV hung on the wall next to the door with the sofa facing it. Jaune sat down on the sofa while Torchwick prepared a drink for himself.

 _You'll need it after I'm done with you Torchwick._

Jaune eyed Torchwick as the tall man sat down on an armchair that was at right angles to the sofa.

"What do you want? Money, men, information? If it's the latter, you've come to the wrong place my helmeted friend." Torchwick lit a cigar.

Jaune just smiled and laughed a little, as if at a little kid's antics. "Torchwick, you aren't being very nice right now. What if the Prometheans wanted to be partners? Would you turn them away so roughly?"

Torch wick's eyes widened slightly, though he may as well have held up a sign that declared his surprise.

"A partnership? Why?" Torch wick's tone was cautious, as if not believing what Jaune was saying.

"Do you really need to know the reason? We buy stuff from you, you get stuff from us. It's really not that hard to understand Torchwick, I'm starting to have doubts about you. I was told I would be talking to someone smart."

Torchwick spluttered angrily and was about to retort when Jaune held up his hand.

"And please, do tell the charming lady in the corner to sheathe her sword. I don't like being threatened during negotiations." Jaune's voice was ice-cold.

Jaune saw Torch wick's eyes widen even more and he savored that feeling. He turned to look at the girl standing behind Jaune. "Neo, uh, please do come sit with us. Our guest would appreciate it."

Jaune cringed inwardly at the terrible, terrible attempt at getting control of the conversation. Was he even trying? The Torchwick described to him was cool, suave, controlling and intimidating. This Torchwick was starting to get embarrassing. Jaune would've called off the partnership and left if he hadn't the amount of Dust crates in the warehouse.

"Hello Neo, how kind of you to join us. Now, Torchwick, I want to know your decision." Jaune's voice returned to his previous warm, slightly playful voice, as if it was all a game to him.

"You haven't set down any terms, any conditions. Do you even know how partnerships work?" Torchwick smirked, trying to show superiority by telling Jaune to state his terms. Jaune just shook his head internally at the pathetic attempt.

 _Seriously, have I surprised him that much? Is my getup too scary? Maybe I should make the helmet less obvious, make it a bit more streamlined._

"Oh Torchwick, haven't you ever had an open partnership? You ask me to do something, I ask you to do something. We figure out the exact number and amount of askings and doings as we go along. Both of us are happy and it's a win-win all around."

"That just sounds like a friendship." Torchwick squinted at him. "Are you trying to say you want to be friends?"

"If that is the term you want to put on it, be my guest. It's really strange to come to that conclusion, not going to lie, but I can see why you would want a friend, staying locked up in here, surrounded by idiots. Not you Neo, you seem clever."

Neo still hadn't lost her expression of surprise since he had called her out. Jaune was really enjoying that look on people's faces.

Torchwick merely ground the cigar between his teeth while glaring at Jaune. "Fine, I accept." He managed to spit out.

"Wonderful! That will be it for today Roman. May I call you that? Or how about Big R? That sounds like a great nickname between friends. Until later, Big R. See you around Neo."

Jaune got up and strolled out of the room and up the stairs, his rear camera seeing the dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

 _JAUNE ARC WINS. FLAWLESS VICTORY_

Jaune decided to celebrate later, wanting to get back to Beacon. Even with his self-control, he couldn't help but feel excitement bubbling in him.

He had just beaten one of the smartest criminals in Vale in a negotiation. It wasn't much of a negotiation either, Jaune had been in control since the beginning. He had thought it would've come to blows when he had called Neo out.

Luckily, it hadn't. He knew he would have no chance against the both of them and didn't want to test out his trump cards. His dad was right, confidence was key.

 _Oh Torchwick, you really screwed up today. Not even making any counter offers? No alternate terms? Not asking for anything as insurance? What are you, an amateur?_

Jaune continued down the dark and isolated city streets, humming a merry tune.

 **Roman Torchwick**

"We may have a problem here Neo, and I have no idea how to deal with it."

Neo and Torchwick were still sitting where they had been when Jaune left, mulling over the one-sided conversation that just happened.

Neo looked at Torchwick with one eyebrow raised as if to say, 'Really? I never would have guessed.'

"What the hell do the Prometheans want from me? They seem to have every resource needed to steal anything they want from any of the gangs. They don't need to be making partnerships! Yet they still are. I heard Junior had a pretty good weapons and equipment deal going on with them, but those are only rumors."

Neo continued to look at him, waiting for him to continue his thought.

"Neo, I think we should talk to the boss."

Neo's eyes widened at that. Torchwick had made it a point never to go to the boss unless she summoned him. He didn't admit it, but Neo had known Torchwick long enough to know he was beyond terrified of her, no matter what bravado he showed around her and her cronies.

Torchwick whipped his scroll out and dialed the number.

"Hello, Cinder? Yeah, it's me. We, and by that I do mean we, have a problem."

 **Jaune Arc  
**

 **A few days later**

Jaune woke up before the others, a byproduct of being practically a vegetable during the night. He tended to need less sleep than the average person, which was great. He had gotten into the routine of getting ready before everyone and heading to the cafeteria to secure breakfast and a table for teams JNPR and Ruby's team, team RWBY consisting of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

After breakfast, they would head their separate ways, some to History, some to Grimm studies, and Jaune to his lab.

Today was different however as today was the first combat class on the year. Jaune had been looking forward to a spar with someone who was not trying to turn him into tomato juice.

The teams headed together to Goodwitch's classroom after breakfast and chatted about who they thought was going to fight and who would win.

The classroom was a sizeable auditorium with a large stage that had a raised platform that took up most of it. There was a large screen hanging on the wall that would allow the contestants to check both their and their opponent's aura levels during the duel.

They all sat down together in one row near the front. Ruby was bouncing in her seat, Yang was leaning back surveying the rest of the room, Blake was reading, Weiss was filing her nails, Nora was yapping away into Ren's ear, Ren was looking serene and calm as usual, and Pyrrha was looking at the door waiting for Goodwitch.

Jaune just sat back in his chair listening to the conversation around and focusing on his own aura, thinking of the ways he could use it against his opponent. He was thinking about somehow using his aura as a way to turn himself into a spinning tornado of death when Glynda cleared her throat.

"If Mr. Arc would please attention to what I'm saying. I would not want anyone to get hurt during the spar due to inattention."

Jaune grinned at her sheepishly and gave her a little wave. She continued in her explanation of the rules.

"This will be a tournament duel, as usual. First person to go into the red or be thrown out of the arena is the loser. Anything goes, you will have time in between rounds to change out of your uniform if you so wish. Locker rooms are to the right out of the door. Now for our first battle, Ruby Rose of team RWBY and Russel Thrush of team CRDL, please come to the stage."

The battle was short, with Ruby's speed and skill with her sniper-scythe ( _seriously, I can't believe someone looked at that and thought it was a good idea_ , Jaune thought) outmatching the green haired combatant.

The rest of the day went on, battle after battle, none of them too spectacular or drawn out. Pyrrha won her match without a single hit landing on her, Nora had launched her opponent out of the arena within minutes, and Ren had outmaneuvered his opponent, eventually finishing him off with an aura laced punch to the face that shattered the other's aura.

"And now for our last match of the day, Jaune Arc of team JNPR and Cardin Winchester of team CRDL"

Jaune almost sprang out of his seat, grabbing his sword, but leaving his shield in sheath form. He checked to make sure his pouches were secure before heading to the front of the room, armor already worn.

His opponent was much taller than Jaune, towering at least a head above him. His hair was combed back, and he had thick silver armor that covered his chest and arms, as well as his thighs. He carried a large mace with black flanges and a red crystal in the center.

Jaune stared at the cockiness the boy displayed as he swaggered up to the platform.

"Jaune is it? Weren't you the only one to go to the hospital after initiation? Maybe this is the wrong school for you. Anyways, we'll figure it out, after I wipe the floor with you."

 _Huh, maybe Torchwick and Cardin can teach the class on arrogance on alternate days?_

"As you said, we'll figure it out." Jaune replied.

"Combatants ready? Begin." Glynda announced.

Jaune knew Cardin would rush him, hoping to get close to Jaune to prevent any escape routes. Jaune saw the way Cardin handled the mace and knew that if he got hit by that, his aura would take a dip.

He waited for the swing to come towards his head and dropped to the floor, allowing the swing to pass him by. Cardin tried to correct his over swing, but the momentum of the mace won out. Cardin stumbled, tripping over Jaune's prone body, but getting up just after Jaune did.

Jaune swung forward at Cardin's unprotected legs, keeping the taller boy slightly off balance. He kept slicing, never letting Cardin fall or recover his balance, using the boy's massive height to his own disadvantage.

Glancing at the board, Jaune saw that the meter showed Cardin's aura had barely gone down halfway through the green, even after the countless slashes that Jaune had delivered.

It was time for something bigger. Stabbing the point of his sword into Cardin's chestplate, he forced the boy to fall over. He activated a scorch crystal and channeled the heat into the blade, heating it up.

As Cardin rose to confront Jaune, the red hot blade arced through the air, sparks forming in the air behind the sword as the air ionized due to the heat.

Cardin managed to get his mace up in time to block the blade, and pushed Jaune backwards. His superior strength winning out, Jaune fell to his back but used the momentum to somersault backwards and onto his feet.

Jaune saw the mace falling down to his position, the black and grey metal twinkling maliciously. Jaune felt the heat from his own blade, he was aware of everything in his surroundings in a moment of perfect concentration.

Gathering up his aura into his legs, he sprang upwards at just the right moment, throwing a water crystal at his own blade and activating it. The mace missed him, but the water crystal exploded on impact with his own heated blade.

All the aura Jaune had put into it was used in an instant to form gallons of water. Which landed on a sword. A sword made of superheated metal.

Steam exploded from the blade, throwing Jaune higher into the air and slamming Cardin's head to the ground. Their immediate surroundings were immediately covered in hot steam, making it impossible to see anything. Jaune couldn't use his goggles for fear of causing water and temperature damage.

He activated a small wind crystal next, creating a small cyclone around him, just enough to create calm directly around him but a swirling mass of steam further out.

Jaune rushed the position where he had seen Cardin last. He wasn't there. Jaune cursed, pumping more aura into the wind crystal to create a bigger radius of clear air around him.

He waited for a few seconds, trying to listen to footsteps of the large boy, but all sound was muffled by the dense steam.

Sighing, Jaune pulled out an Ice crystal, sending very small amounts of aura through it. It was enough to draw heat from the steam, but not enough to convert it into ice.

Slowly, the steam started clearing and the air got very humid, very fast. The cyclone of steam he had created turned into a mass of rotating water droplets that were flung out when they got too big.

 _Great, I turned myself into a lawn sprinkler. Maybe I should join Ruby in the 'Uses gardening tools as an offense' Club._

Jaune finally caught sight of Cardin, standing on the other side of the arena, black shirt completely soaked underneath his armor, a complete deadweight. Cardin caught sight of him as well and rushed forward once more.

The weight of the water inside the shirt was reflected in the clumsy strikes that Jaune could parry with ease. Utilizing jets of aura as boosters to add more power to his swings, he slowly started parrying strikes less and started going on the offensive.

He started hammering on Cardin, strikes landing on his body parts in seemingly random order. Head, chest, left arm, stomach, shoulder, right leg, and so on.

Cardin slowly grew more tired as the weight of his shirt and the aura depletion worked against him. Eventually, he stopped even trying to hit Jaune and focused on not getting battered.

Jaune glanced at the screen, his aura was still in the green, going down slightly as he used it to power his strikes. A good position.

Cardin's was a different matter altogether. It was being torn away in chunks with each hit Jaune managed to land on the boy.

This continued on for half a minute longer before Cardin collapsed in utter exhaustion and Glynda called the match. Jaune immediately sheathed his sword and bowed to the prone boy, mockery in every corner of his body language.

"I guess you were right Cardin; we did figure out whether this was the right school for me."

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	7. Menace No More

**Jaune Arc**

The class was silent as Jaune knelt down and pulled the exhausted Cardin off the ground. He walked out to the locker room, the larger boy leaning on his soon as the door closed, Jaune could hear the furious muttering of the class at both his spectacular steam bomb as well as his unusual behavior at carrying Cardin out of the room.

Jaune ignored them all. He knew that Cardin was strong and had large aura reserves, playing to his strengths as a 'tank' archetype. No one Jaune knew currently battled that way and Jaune was determined to get someone like that on his side. He lay Cardin down on a bench as Cardin stared at him in shock. Jaune went into the showers to cleanse himself of the sweat accumulated during the fight. He took his time, giving Cardin plenty of time to think over the fight.

After the refreshing shower and a fresh change of clothes, Jaune walked back to the bench where Cardin was not sitting, breathing normal.

"Why did you bring me here? You won the fight, I had the time to recover and walk myself here. Was it not enough to humiliate me during the fight that you also had to carry me out like an invalid?" Cardin's voice rose in volume throughout.

Jaune just looked at him steadily, waiting for Cardin to calm down before speaking. "Cardin, think about what you said before the fight. You had no idea who I was, how I got injured, what I could do. Yet you still did your level best to antagonize me from the moment we faced each other. Why?"

Cardin struggled to form an answer, put off by the directness of Jaune's question. He decided to sneer instead. "Because you looked like a punk ass bi-"

Jaune's fist smacked into him, throwing his unprepared body back two feet, head smacking into another bench. Jaune stood over him, face impassive though anger shined in his eyes.

"Cardin, you just don't get it do you? I'm not asking you to think about it, I'm not requesting it, I'm ordering you to. Know that I am better than you in every way. In. Every. Single. Way."

Cardin's expression was beyond shock. No one had ever talked to him this way before. He was one of the tallest and strongest at school, no one ever dared to cross him before.

"Cardin, I've seen you around school bullying many of the students for homework or just to be mean. A certain second year Faunus comes to mind. Do you understand that your actions have consequences?" Jaune crouched to stare Cardin down.

"Because of scum like you, the White Fang is what it is today. Humans like you are what drives the White Fang to harm and kill. Humans like you were responsible for the race wars." Jaune spat out, anger in every word. Cardin trembled, staring at Jaune wide-eyed.

"Why do you care so much about them? They're animals, nothing more." Even Cardin could hear the doubt in his own voice.

"Listen to yourself. I'm not even going to try to argue that, you know deep down that Faunus are our equals. You just bully them because they're easy targets. Don't even try to deny it."

Cardin didn't try.

"Know this Cardin. Right now, you're a pathetic excuse for a human being, let alone a hunter. I want you to think on your actions and try to improve."

Jaune turned and strode towards the door. As he reached for the handle, Cardin spoke up, voice breaking slightly.

"Why…why are you doing this? All you've seen from me is me being cruel to others, why are you trying telling me all this?"

Jaune turned his head slightly towards Cardin. "I know you have the ability to be a good hunter inside of you. I don't want to see that potential be wasted. Do what you signed up to do and protect others. Start by being less cruel and intolerant."

He stepped out, leaving the boy to rethink his life in peace.

…

Everyone in the class had gone to their respective rooms by the time Jaune left the locker room. The only person left was Pyrrha, who was standing near the classroom door, waiting for him.

"Jaune, Professor Goodwitch wants to see you." Pyrrha sounded worried for him though Jaune couldn't fathom the reason why.

"Alright, thanks for telling me. You should go rest now, you fought well today." Jaune smiled and waved Pyrrha away, despite her protests. She gave in, walking back to their room.

Jaune stepped in and walked to Glynda's desk.

"Ms. Goodwitch? You wished to see me?"

Goodwitch looked up. "Yes Jaune, I did. Please, take a seat."

Jaune did so.

"Now, I want to talk to you about your fight against Mr. Winchester. Specifically, about your use of Dust during the fight. You used a Scorch crystal on your own sword, then a Water crystal right afterwards, creating an explosion of steam, yes?"

Jaune nodded.

Glynda then pointedly looked at his sword. "May I see it?"

Jaune pulled it out, setting it on the desk between the two.

He knew that heating the entire body of his would have been a dumb move, as it would've destroyed the strength of the metal and the magnets that made up the railgun inside the blade. He had inlaid his sword with metal strips on the surface that would absorb most of the heat from the dust and expel it into the air rather than into the surrounding metals.

The end result was the same as heating the entire sword, but the heat was concentrated in a smaller volume, which made it more efficient. Jaune was quite proud of it.

"Interesting design, you designed and made this yourself yes?" Glynda was examining the dust crystals inlaid at strategic locations along the blade with an impressed look.

Jaune nodded proudly. He had spent a lot of effort on all his weapons and having someone like Glynda appreciate it felt good.

"You must know a lot about Dust to be able to use it so effectively. Did you gather all that experience just through experimentation?"

"Yeah, the past two months really helped me understand many things about Dust though there are a lot of things I haven't learned about yet."

"I see. Does this weapon have any alternate forms? It seems to be the trend these days among you kids."

"It does actually, here let me demonstrate." Jaune took the sword and activated the railgun mode. The hilt folded down, becoming a grip. The blade slightly widened, creating a hole in the tip that extended all the way down. Jaune pulled out a small metal ball and shook it. It extended into a small spike that Jaune put into the hole.

Aiming at a target on the far wall of the classroom, Jaune activated the Shock crystal inside the hilt. A slight blue glow emanated from the tip as the weapon charged. After a couple seconds, Jaune held the charge and grabbed onto the blade to steady his aim.

He let go of the charge and the spike embedded itself into the target, making a clean hole and penetrating half its length into the wall before stopping.

Jaune looked back at Glynda who looked shocked at the speed and power of the handheld railgun.

"How did you manage to miniaturize a railgun and still retain the power? Atlas has been trying for years, but they haven't gotten the technology smaller than a bus!" Glynda looked uncharacteristically flustered.

"Ms. Goodwitch, I did tell you it was a personal hobby to defy expectations, didn't I?"

 _If this is her reaction to my railgun, wait until she gets a load of my clones' weapons and the clones themselves. I think her brain would just shut down._

Goodwitch just stared at him. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before finally deciding on what to say.

"You did. Alright, continue the good work, if you need any more materials or anything, I'll ask to increase the funding allotted to you."

Jaune nodded. "Is that all, Ms. Goodwitch?"

Goodwitch nodded, and Jaune left the room.

…

The days passed in this manner, Jaune joining his team for combat lessons every week, while staying in his lab when they had classes. That wasn't to say he wasn't strengthening their friendships. He sparred with Pyrrha almost every day after classes, talked with Ren about philosophy (he talked a surprising amount once he had something to say), and entertained Nora whenever she was bored.

His fighting skills were quickly improving, something noticed by Pyrrha within a week. She commented on it, and Jaune explained he was just quick at learning.

He had continued to work on Beacon's security systems at a more dedicated pace, knowing it would require much more effort to prevent the terrible future the Voice had told him about in his vision after initiation.

He had continued to develop a business relationship with Torchwick and had even developed a camaraderie with the man. Neo didn't talk at all, but he could tell she found him interesting.

As the end of two months of school approached, Jaune had grown lax in his paranoia. He had stopped going out to keep an eye on Vale and had stopped upgrading his weapons, focusing mainly on Beacon's defenses.

There was a field trip for his combat class scheduled to go to the forest of Forever Fall, the reason a secret, and Jaune was excited to head back out of Beacon in his own body.

…

Jaune was regretting ever having leaving Beacon in his own body.

Glynda had revealed the reason for the field trip and Jaune had almost cursed out loud. They were going to be collecting sap from tress for some Professor Peach. Why the hell did they need the combat class to collect the sap? It wasn't going to fight back or anything, it was sap!

And how wrong Jaune had been. Apparently he was allergic to the sap and he lay in the shade of a tree feeling as if his face was trying to peel itself off and run away. His nose was filled with liquid and was stuffed up at the same time, a curious sensation. His hands were covered in red itchy bumps and his breathing felt shallow.

 _An epipen! My kingdom for an epipen!_

Jaune couldn't do anything but wait it out. Thankfully the reaction wasn't too severe and would go away sooner or later. Pyrrha had filled his jar for him after the reaction had started and his team and team RWBY were not sitting near him, chatting about the trip.

Jaune groaned at his stupidity for thinking life was becoming easier. It was as if life decided to throw him a sucker punch as soon as he had thought that he would be cruising smoothly. _Haha nope, allergies!_

After some time, the swelling and pain died down and Jaune sat up, his aura speeding up the recovery. _Great help you were, aura. Ever heard of prevention is better than a cure?_

He moved to join the two teams sitting in a circle when Russel Thrush of CRDL ran into the clearing, panting, face expressing extreme fear. He passed by Yang who grabbed him and hauled him bodily to the ground.

"What happened? Why are you running?" Yang questioned the terrified boy.

"Ursi…huge...Cardin's alone…going to get help" Russel managed to pant out.

"Ruby, go get Goodwitch as fast as you can. Blake and Ren, scout up ahead, try to stop Cardin from being mauled. Yang, Weiss, Pyrrha, Nora, Russel, you all come with me." Jaune's tone was firm and no one argued, seeing the sense in his command.

Ruby sped off in a cloud of rose petals and Blake and Ren melted into the forest, traversing the tricky terrain easily.

The other six ran as fast as they could, eventually reaching a clearing with a hill in it. On the top Cardin was surrounded by four Ursi, with no sign of the rest of his team.

He was blocking the massive blows of the Ursi. It was a testament to his strength that he managed to not be thrown into the trees with each hit.

An ursa by itself was nothing to be trifled with. It looked like a bear, but even the smallest Ursa was larger than the average bear. The ursi surrounding Cardin all looked to be Alphas and were twice the size of the average ursa.

They reached the top of the hill as Cardin fended off two of the ursi at once. Jaune could see the fatigue in his eyes as he collapsed onto one knee, the entire weight of a paw resting on his mace.

Blake and Ren were holding off the other two, distracting them and scoring them with small wounds.

Jaune knew that he had to act soon.

"Weiss, I want literal fire on the ursi. Yang, distract the one of the right, punch it into oblivion. Pyrrha, you and Nora take the one of the left. I want it dead, pronto. Russel, wait here."

Everyone nodded and went to work. Jaune ran towards Cardin, the ursa distracted by the sudden appearance of a large inferno on its head.

Jaune slid in next to Cardin and grabbed the boy, heaving him up. He activated his Gravity Dust to lighten the load a little as half carried, half dragged him away from the fighting. After taking him a safe distance away, Jaune set a Barrier crystal next to him and activated it. It wouldn't stop any determined Grimm but the draw on his aura would alert him to any attack.

"Russel, make sure he's ok, call Beacon for medical exhaustion. Tell them there is a severe case of aura exhaustion, and possible muscle strain."

He looked back up at the top of the hill. Pyrrha was darting back and forth near the ursa's legs, slashing its feet and keeping it slightly off balance at all times. Nora shot two grenades from her weapon before transforming it into a hammer and smashing the ursa's head.

It fell on its back dazed and Pyrrha stabbed it through the heart and slashed its throat for good measure.

Jaune then turned his attention to Yang who seemed to have activated her semblance and was taunting the ursa.

"C'mon big guy. Too scared? Don't worry, I'll make sure I don't hit too hard, too soft, but juuuuust right. Whatcha say?" With that, Yang launched herself at the creature, fists forming a blur as she rained shotgun fire on the ursa's face. She then sent an uppercut at its head, followed by a sharp hook into its throat.

A wet gurgling could be heard as the ursa realized it no longer had a way to breath. Yang put it out of its misery by punching its face in.

Grimacing at the violent way Yang had dispatched the ursa, he ran to help Blake and Ren with their ursi. As he ran, he loaded another spike into his sword and started charging.

Jaune could see Ren getting slower, running out of stamina. When the monster's back was turned, Jaune used his aura to boost himself into the air and brought his sword above his head. Boosting the sword down with his aura, he plunged the metal into its back.

The ursa reared and roared its pain to the sky, paws and body flailing to try and get the pest who had stabbed it off its back. Jaune felt the telltale click of the weapon being fully charged and pulled the sword left, turning the ursi with him, almost like controlling a horse.

He waited until his mount has facing Blake's ursa. Waiting until Blake was out of the way, Jaune released the charge. His mount's chest exploded outwards, black fluid spraying out. The spike continued to fly straight, eventually slamming into the other ursa's side. It didn't fully penetrate through, but it was enough to knock the creature off balance.

Before it could hit the ground, a cloud of rose petals appeared around the head and the body was dissolving before it hit the ground. Ruby dropped to the ground, Crescent Rose in her hand, looking at everyone.

Glynda ran up to them, looking at the dissolving bodies of the dead Grimm. Before she could say anything, Jaune spoke up. "Professor, Cardin Winchester is hurt but stable. There is no sign of his teammates. Russel says they ran when attacked. He has called Beacon for medical extraction already."

Glynda looked at him, surprise and pride in her eyes. "Well done Jaune. You have handled this situation marvelously. To all of you, excellent fighting. You eight shall be riding with Russel and Cardin in the medical airship. Head to the hospital to make sure you all are okay and report straight to the headmaster's office."

The meeting with Ozpin had passed smoothly, with the two teams giving their account of the fight. Ozpin had congratulated them on their effort, and sent them off, but held Jaune back.

Pyrrha had a concerned look on her face as she left the room. Jaune gave her a reassuring smile and turned back to Ozpin.

"Jaune, I wish to talk to you about some of your inventions. I have heard you have been making some of your own little gadgets and upgrades in parallel with the blueprints you have been giving me. Is that right?" Ozpin's voice was measured and calm as usual.

Jaune couldn't for the life of him tell what Ozpin was thinking at that moment. Was he mad at Jaune for doing that? Was he happy that Jaune was doing it? He decided to tell the truth and play it safe.

"Yes sir, I have. I have upgraded my sword massively, as well as created many small gadgets and explosives that I have in my pouches." Jaune gestured at the new belt of pouches he had gotten after the last set had been ripped apart during initiation.

"Hmm yes, I am aware of the contents of your pouches and your sword. But you seem to be using quite a lot of resources in your experimentation and don't have a lot to show for the sheer amount you are using."

Alarm bells began to go off in Jaune's head.

 _Did Ozpin know about his clones? If Ozpin found out and didn't like it, Jaune would have no say in anything Ozpin did. He couldn't even fight him. How did he find out about the clones specifically? Can I even trust him with any of this?_

Jaune again decided to play it safe.

"Sir, I have actually been making a whole armory of all sorts of weapons and machines. I intended to reveal them to you by the end of the semester. A weapons show of sorts. We could either sell to Atlas or use it to supply Hunter schools."

Ozpin looked at him keenly. Jaune kept an honest a face as possible, hoping that Ozpin would accept this explanation without any further questioning.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess I can't hide anything from you." Jaune laughed innocently while declaring that he had nothing more hidden.

 _C'mon Ozpin say something; it's getting annoying now._

"I see. That would indeed have been a wonderful surprise. How about I pretend you never told me about this? You can still have your showcase, and I'll even allow you to use Beacon grounds for the purpose. That's the least I can do for spoiling your surprise."

Jaune couldn't believe it had worked. He had gotten Ozpin off his back without revealing anything!

Of course, he had put the responsibility of hosting an entire weapons showcase on himself, but that was by far the lesser of two evils.

"Thank you so much, Professor Ozpin! That would be a huge help!" Jaune exclaimed, hoping that he sounded convincing.

"That will be all Mr. Arc, that will be all." Ozpin turned to his computer, watching a video of an unknown man walking out of Jaune's lab.

"Weapons showcase indeed Mr. Arc."

…

The days passed and Jaune fell back into the same routine he had gotten into before the day of the Forever Fall incident.

Over the last couple of months, almost everyone in first year had noticed the sudden 180 in team CDRL's behavior. They had gone from being the biggest bullies of the year to using their strength to protect people from the bullying.

Their team had gotten closer to teams JNPR and RWBY, with Cardin giving the whole credit of their turnaround to Jaune. Jaune had tried to deny that and say Cardin had done the actual work in realizing his mistakes, but Cardin wasn't having any of that.

He had taken all three teams out to a night in Vale, which had turned into one of the most memorable nights of Jaune's life.

All this didn't mean he hadn't been active in the criminal world. He had been in contact with Roman, selling weapons to him and Junior, as well as looting and stealing from opponent gangs.

One other project he had started was solidifying his control over the CCT. He had learned all there was to learn about the software and how the entire thing was structured.

If Jaune had to use one word to describe it, it would be _'mess'._ It was a hodge podge of different standards and protocols even in the same region with bridging in between to allow different parts to communicate. It was fantastically inefficient and looked like it was thrown together at the last moment by a group of engineers that was tragically understaffed.

It would be harder to make programs that would work across the CCT than it was to hack it. No wonder the government had spent so much money on stopping people after they hacked it; it would've costed more money to redo the entire software structure!

In some of the upgrades to Beacon that Jaune had given Ozpin, he had included CCT connected, automated doors. They would only open for authorized scrolls. Jaune had countless other similar upgrades to everything from the monitor systems in classrooms to the anti-aerial Grimm guns on the roofs of the towers.

He had installed backdoors to every single one, and it could all be controlled by his scroll, in case he ever needed to either protect Beacon from attack or protect himself from Beacon.

Life went on, until one day, Jaune received a scroll call on his Prometheus scroll. It was nighttime, and Jaune was ready to go to bed. His team was changing after a particularly hard day of combat training (they all managed to beat their opponents) and was itching for a good night's sleep before tackling the weekend.

 _Roman Torchwick_

It was unusual for Roman to call him. Both times he had called before, Jaune had to go and scare rival gangs, some pretty easy stuff. Everyone had heard of the Prometheans and the smaller gangs were scared of running afoul of them.

When Jaune had learned of this he had not stopped laughing for ten minutes. Shrouding the organization in shadow and being intimidating had really helped him out a lot. Scaring whole gangs and making the whole of Vale know who his imaginary group was? Beyond a doubt one of the craziest things he had done, and that was saying something.

Jaune picked up the phone, expecting Roman's normal arrogant voice. This time however, the voice was dead serious.

"C. I need you to come by. My boss wants to meet you."

Jaune froze, mind whirling. He had heard of Roman's boss before, and from what Roman had told him, she was extremely dangerous and not someone to be trifled with. She had been the one who had requested Roman to capture every speck of Dust he could.

Requested was technically the right term if breaking into their house and holding them at knife point was a request.

"Alright Big R, be right there." Jaune had continued to use the nickname to remind Roman of the humiliation heaped on him by Jaune in their first meeting.

Jaune quickly changed and hopped into bed early, citing exhaustion. He conked out immediately and slipped into his alternate self. He equipped his prototype helmet that had every single advancement he could cram in there, his deadly gauntlets, boots laced with Gravity Dust to assist in jumps and general agility, as well as a sword that was similar to his railgun-sword that he used at Beacon.

One large difference was that this one had a high powered laser in it instead of a railgun. It expanded instantly, the laser able to target and shoot down any incoming projectiles up to a certain size using sensors in the hilt.

He felt like he was gearing up for a war, and in a way he was. He had to be on his best game both mentally and physically.

Still feeling inadequately prepared, Jaune slipped out into the cool night.

…

"Alright Mr. C, the boss will see you now."

Jaune, Torchwick, and Neo were standing in front of a heavy door to a warehouse ( _seriously, do criminals not have any creativity with their lairs? Every single one has been a storage place of some kind!_ ).

A large guard in a black and white suit stood guard and was currently checking Jaune's scroll. Waving a jaunty little wave at Roman and Neo's worried faces, Jaune strode into the room, expecting some either large and muscular or shrewd looking, sitting in their room smoking a pipe and generally looking cool.

What he got was nowhere near his expectations. The room was dimly lit, with the only light coming from candles and lamps scattered throughout the room.

 _The fire department would collectively have a heart attack at all the flammable material kept near the open flames._

A large flame ignited the chandelier overhead and Jaune saw a woman sitting on a couch shaped like a U in the middle of the room, with the open end facing the door.

What surprised Jaune wasn't the gender, plenty of women ran gangs in Vale, it was the appearance of the woman. She had ashen black hair that fell over her face covering her left eye.

She wore a dark red strapless V-neck dress that ended at just below her waist, leaving her legs bare. She wore what looked like glass slippers on her feet. '

She smiled at him, eyes filled with mirth as if laughing at a joke they had shared. She smoothly motioned to the couch and Jaune took a seat, feeling clunky and awkward next to the confident beauty.

 _She is really, really good at this._ Jaune realized. _Setting the scene, wearing that distracting dress, all of it was planned. This oughta be fun._

"Prometheus C, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Roman has told me a lot." Cinder's voice was slow, confident, and was almost seductive. "I am Cinder Fall, though just Cinder is fine."

"The pleasure is all mine Cinder. And just C is fine for me." Jaune knew that a first name basis was being established to evade feeling formal, make Jaune feel more comfortable around Cinder, and make mistakes.

"Alright C, I see you have been busy around town." Cinder got up, walking to a fridge in the corner of the room, hips swaying slightly.

 _Does she have no shame? Seriously, what is up with her?_

"The Prometheans require certain things, I do my job, everyone is happy. Sometimes that requires just ordering people around, sometimes it requires a more _personal_ touch." Jaune put emphasis on 'personal'.

Cinder turned back to him, a wine bottle and two glasses in her hands. She set them on the table in front of them and sat back onto the couch.

Jaune took the bottle and poured it into the two glasses. He handed it to Cinder, her hands brushing his as she took it.

"I can agree with that sentiment. To do things right, you have to do them yourself." Cinder looked at him as she took a dainty sip of wine.

Jaune decided to take a small risk.

He set his untouched glass on the table and looked at Cinder. "Alright, we both know here that you called me here for a reason. As much as I wish to, I cannot stay here and exchange pleasantries and small talk with you. I hope you understand."

Cinder's warm amber eyes darkened slightly and narrowed. She set her own glass down and folded her hands in her lap.

"I do understand. I certainly appreciate a man who knows his priorities."

 _Enough with the flirting!_

"I'm glad you do Cinder, now can we please cut to the chase?"

"Such impatience! Very well C, we will 'cut to the chase' as you said. I want the Promethean technology you have been selling."

 _Goddamn right you do, it's the best around._

"Our technology does not come cheap Cinder." Jaune warned. It was a way to get her to show how much she was willing to pay.

"Name your price C." Cinder stated confidently.

"5 crates of top quality dust for a basic security system for a base this size. One crate for every crate of guns, and one crate per every hunter tier weapon." Jaune had given her a higher price than he had charged the gangs.

Cinder seemed to notice that. "Oh C, that is a higher price than what the lower gangs were charged. Please, I thought we were getting to be friends." She leaned in closer still, eyes still locked on Jaune's.

 _You know what? Screw safety, two can play this game._

"Oh Cinder, I think so too. That's why I will get your organization better quality, just for you. The price will probably be unfortunately higher. Business is business, it stops for no man or woman." Jaune said, his tone changing to be a bit more playful.

If Cinder was taken back by this change in him, she hid it well. "C, I'm sure we can come to some sort of…deal. Maybe even a favor? I'm sure even people like you need some things that you cannot acquire for yourself." Cinder rested a hand on his shoulder, her hands warm.

 _SERIOUSLY? This is getting worse and worse! What's wrong with her? Is she really that desperate for weapons?_

"Actually Cinder, I would be interested in a partnership. Someone like you would make a wonderful ally in times of need, I'm sure. So how about this? I cut you a deal. I waive the extra payment as of now in exchange for a favor later on, of my choosing."

"Oh how can I refuse that generous offer C? A partnership with the Prometheans? It must be my lucky day." Cinder practically purred that last sentence.

"To a long and profitable partnership." Jaune held up his glass.

"Indeed." Cinder tapped her glass against his and they both drank.

 _How did someone in the past taste wine for the first time and liked it so much he shared it with others?_

Jaune managed to swallow his drink down and set the glass back down.

"Now all there is left to do is to decide on the exact order and payment methods." Jaune's voice turned business-like again.

"Ah yes. I can have all the crates ready to ship in a few days. When is the earliest you can deliver?" Cinder's tone hadn't changed from what it was at the start of the negotiation.

"It depends on the order. Once I know exactly what you require, I can give you an estimate within a day."

"In that case, I'm sure you don't mind staying in contact?" The flirty tone made its triumphant return.

"Oh, of course not, it wouldn't do to leave such a promising ally like yourself hanging. Here are my scroll details. Don't worry, I have a secure private channel on the CCT, we can talk freely. "

After exchanging contact details, Jaune rose to exit. Cinder rose up behind him as he moved to the door. As he was stepping outside of the door, Jaune could almost feel the triumph emanating from Cinder.

 _Poor girl, thinks she won today. There were no winners today, you shameless little minx._

Cinder closed the door behind the strange man. Her opinion on him was confusing, which was not something she was used to.

He had originally been polite, but had seemed to seen through her small psychological tricks. Then he had turned impatient, as if bored of the meeting. That had perplexed Cinder further. Did he not know of her? Of what she could do?

Or maybe he did and just wasn't scared of her? The thought angered Cinder. She loved inducing fear and awe in people around her.

The next moment however, C was flirting back at her! At that point, she was completely clueless on the actual nature of the man. He seemed to be all over the place, and seemed to be doing it on purpose.

But it didn't matter how he behaved. She had managed to charm him enough to get him to discount the price of the devices immensely, though she hadn't been expecting the offer of a partnership or the favor that she now owed him.

It was a small price to pay for furthering her plan faster than she had anticipated.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	8. Cavalier

**Jaune Arc**

"The Vytal Festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss sighed in contentment, closing her eyes.

Both teams JNPR and RWBY were walking through Vale having received permission to take an excursion into the city.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss." Ruby said from behind Weiss. "It's kinda weirding me out..."

Jaune had to agree. The generally icy heiress looked like she was having the time of her life, displaying more happiness than she ever had before, even when Jaune had added the ability for her Dust rapier, Myternaster, to use Gravity dust.

"How could you 'not' smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath taking." Weiss practically sighed the last sentence, acting like a stereotypical princess in a movie.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang crossed her arms as they followed Weiss down a street.

Jaune tuned their sister team's bickering out and turned to his own. Nora was chattering away at Ren who seemed to have a glazed look on his face. Typical.

Looking at Pyrrha, he noticed an odd expression on her face as she looked at the crowds around them. Some of them were trying not to stare, but were failing miserably.

"Hey Pyrrha, you alright?" Jaune asked, placing a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

She visibly jumped at the question. "What, oh yes Jaune, I am completely fine. No need to worry!" She tried her best to give a convincing smile but Jaune knew better having spent months with her.

"Pyrrha, I'm your partner and a friend. I think I can tell when there is something wrong. I don't want you to go through it alone. If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask." Jaune made his tone as reassuring as possible.

He could feel the tension slipping from her as his hand stayed on her shoulder. "Thank you Jaune, that means a lot." He smiled at that and continued walking, Pyrrha following.

The two teams followed Weiss as she headed over to the docks, where boats were constantly unloading passengers.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang whined.

"They smell like fish." Ruby held her nose as she said this.

 _Wait a second, did Blake just sniff the air? And did her bow just twitch on its own?_

Jaune ignored that, looking back at the boat that was currently unloading its cargo.

"I think that we, as students of Beacon, should represent our school to the students that are coming in today from Vacuo." Weiss announced with an air of slight superiority.

"She wants to spy on them to have an upper hand in the tournament." Blake's tone was dry.

"What? No! You can't prove that!" Weiss spluttered angrily as everyone laughed.

"Hey Weiss, you really should focus on the boat. A potential target is here." Jaune pointed at the boat he had been looking at.

A monkey faunus leapt off the side of the ship onto the pier, with two sailors yelling at him. He climbed up onto a lamppost, hanging upside down. He had a white unbuttoned shirt that showed off his frankly amazing abs. His jeans were rolled up a the ankles and his blonde hair went every which way.

"You no-good stowaway!" One sailor yelled.

"Hey! A "no-good" stow-away would have been caught. I'm a great stow-away." The faunus peeled a banana, scarfing it down.

A police officer walked towards him, opening his mouth to shout at him only to receive the peel square in the mouth.

The faunus flipped off the lamppost, landed on the ground and started running towards their group. As he ran by, he winked at Blake and continued on, disappearing in the crowd.

"Quick! We have to follow him! Because he may harm someone!" Weiss yelled, moving to chase.

"Weiss, why do you think he'll harm someone? He obviously just boarded the ship to get to Vale." Blake pulled Weiss back, speaking in a quiet voice.

"He entered Vale illegally without declaring himself and with weapons. For all we know he could be one of the White Fang. All they know is to lie, cheat, steal, and kill. All of which harm people." Weiss crossed her arms, glaring at Blake.

"Why would you assume that about him? He probably is a student, given his weapons. That doesn't excuse him stowing away, but you can't just assume he's here to do crime!" Blake was suddenly impassionate, her voice rising.

"Guys, relax. The police are after him and if he was planning something, he won't have time to do it. We can't do anything and arguing will just ruin the day. Come on, let's head to the other dock, a ship is starting to dock." Without waiting for a response, Jaune started walking towards the aforementioned ship. The others had no choice but to follow.

The rest of the day passed without incident, the faunus soon forgotten as both teams looked at the influx of students and the diversity they exhibited. Ruby oohed and aahed at all the weapons, causing everyone to laugh.

The real trouble began when the teams reached their rooms. JNPR was getting ready for bed when voices rang out from team RWBY's room across the hallway.

"People like me?!" Weiss's shrill voice.

"You're discriminatory!" Blake's normally quiet voice was raised and angry.

"I'm a victim! You want to know why I hate the white fang and anyone related to them? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus? It's because they have been at war with my family for years! My grandparents were killed in a car bomb while they were on vacation! My mother was assassinated soon after I was born! Board members and family friends disappeared without a trace.

My father grew distant, angry. Just the name Schnee became something that could get me killed! The fear and paranoia surrounding me made my childhood very, very difficult. Now do you understand?"

The revelation was met with stunned silence from both rooms with even Nora at a loss for something to say.

"That doesn't give you a right to hate all faunus!"

Jaune had a sneaking suspicion for the reason why Blake cared about the faunus so much.

"No, that definitely doesn't give me the right to hate them. What does give me the right is that almost all of them are liars, cheats, and scoundrels, eager to cause harm to any human that gets in their way!" Weiss's voice was somehow even angrier now.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

If the silence after Weiss's statement was quiet, this was like the vacuum of space.

"Blake, no!" Ruby called out in vain as the sound of the door opening and shutting echoed.

Jaune looked at each of his teammates in turn. "Do you think we should help them figure it out? They are our friends."

Pyrrha merely shook her head. "I do not think it would be wise to meddle, Jaune. They are a team and they should figure this situation out on their own."

Jaune sighed, rubbing his eyes. He knew he could track Blake across Vale using the CCT to track her scroll.

"The least I can do is help them find her. She shouldn't spend the night alone in Vale."

Pyrrha relented, and nodded. "As long as you don't join the search."

"Great, I'll be right back." Jaune may have been the leader but Pyrrha made most of the decisions out of battle and Jaune preferred it that way.

He headed to RWBY's room. The door was ajar and there was no one inside. He checked his tracking program to confirm they were already out, heading towards the airship dock.

Shaking his head, he returned to JNPR's room. "No luck, they already left. Guess we'll have to wait and see how things turn out. Good night everyone."

Having already changed, Jaune plopped into bed, determined to track Blake as a Promethean.

He slipped into his Promethean I body. It had similar facial features, the same hair and eyes, but the body type was wildly different. This one was lean and had a black bodysuit on. He had carved channels in the suit that contained Barrier Dust, creating very light, invisible armor around him. It wouldn't protect against hard hits but small arms fire could be blocked and wouldn't tear the suit.

He had also covered the entire suit with sensors that conveyed information to his helmet's HUD. The helmet covered his head and had a blackened visor. He carried a small foldable knife, dust infused of course.

His helmet had a better version of his night vision goggles with higher resolution and lower latency. Checking over his equipment, he moved out once more into the night, for the first time going out to help a friend.

…

His tracker showed her location as static. He searched the location up and saw it was a dust shop. He headed over, searching for every person in the area around her. There was one person who was sitting close to her.

He searched the Vale database for the identity of the person.

 **Scroll Unregistered**

 _Probably from outside Vale_ , Jaune concluded. He had not connected to the interkingdom CCT and only had the data for Vale. Getting up on the roof of a building opposite of the café, he zoomed in on his camera feed to see who Blake was talking to.

It was the faunus from the boat.

 _What the hell is she doing with him? When did they meet up? How did he even know where she was?_

Jaune continued to watch them. The faunus talking to Blake could've been a White Fang member, coming to talk to Blake. He still was confused on that fact. Blake was a faunus and was ex-White Fang. He couldn't imagine the quiet reserved girl that stayed in the library for hours ever being a violent terrorist.

His musings ceased as he saw both of them get up and head towards the docks. They split up and Jaune started following Blake. She lay down in the shadows overlooking a freight ship stacked high with Schnee Dust Company crates.

Jaune managed to jump off a nearby building onto the top of the crane that was fortunately close. He crouched, watching as the monkey faunus approached, holding a bag. He pulled out a banana and started eating.

The next moment Jaune almost fell off the crane as Bullheads flew over him, landing in the area between the crates. Their cargo holds opened, ejecting many masked individuals.

 _White Fang_ , Jaune realized as he saw the distinctive Grimm masks they wore. _Are Blake and the faunus going to help them or stop them?_ He didn't think it would the former but it didn't pay to be careless.

The last Bullhead landed and Jaune nearly fell off again as he saw Roman Torchwick stroll out, saying something that Jaune couldn't hear.

 _What the hell are White Fang doing with a human, especially one like Torchwick?_ Jaune couldn't see any logic in the partnership.

He glanced back at where the faunus and Blake were hiding to see Blake jump off onto the ship and run silently behind Torchwick. She held the cleaver portion of her weapon Gambol Shroud to Torchwick's throat.

She said something that cause Torchwick to roll his eyes and the White Fang members to shift uncomfortably. He saw Torchwick shove Blake back and aim his cane at her feet.

He fired, sending her flying back into a crate that a Bullhead was attempting to pick up. She landed on the ground, dazed. Torchwick aimed again and fired, a red glowing spinning sphere making its way towards Blake.

She managed to roll out of the way, the round making a small crater in the ground. Torchwick continued to fire and Blake continued to roll out of the way.

 _What the hell do I do? I can't stop Roman, it would be really suspicious for the Prometheans to step in. He couldn't just stand by while Torchwick, a hunter trained criminal, sought to kill her._

Torchwick stopped firing as Blake ran and hid behind a large crate. He stalked towards her, only to receive a banana peel and a boot to the face as the faunus landed on the flamboyant criminal's face.

Jaune saw more White Fang get out of Bullheads and move to surround the faunus and Torchwick shakily got up.

The members charged, those with swords charging first. The faunus spun and dodged as he punched and kicked each attacker away from him. Having a bit of breathing room, he pulled out the red nunchucks that he carried inside his shirt.

He spun them, joining them into a long staff that he used to dispatch more enemies. Jaune was amazed at the prowess of martial arts displayed by the faunus. Granted, it was against dubiously trained grunts, but it still was amazing to watch the complicated maneuvers.

The last of the goons dispatched, the faunus spun his staff to block a shot that Torchwick had fired at him. Blake landed behind Torchwick before he could fire another shot. Blake spun her sword and attacked form the right, then spinning and attacking from the left. Torchwick managed to block both strikes with his cane.

Blake used her semblance to leave an image of herself as she lunged at Torchwick, managing to hit him. She continued to use this tactic, forcing Torchwick onto the defensive.

Ultimately, Torchwick managed to anticipate where she would be and used his longer weapon to smack her in the face disorienting her. She tried her best to block the next couple of strikes but Torchwick managed to get past her defense twice and then sent her flying back with a powerful smash to her stomach.

The blonde haired faunus then jumped over Blake's prone body, nunchucks flying. He spun them around and Torchwick somehow managed to block every single strike. The faunus moved in even closer, hindering Torchwick's ability to defend with his long cane.

Apparently the weapons weren't just nunchucks that transformed into a staff, they were _gun_ chucks that transformed into a staff. The faunus fired them multiple times at point blank, each shot causing Torchwick to stumble as the force was transferred to his aura.

While Torchwick could block strikes for the nunchucks themselves, the shots were taking a toll on him as he continued to be driven back.

Torchwick allowed himself to get hit, sending him flying backwards. He raised his weapon and fired at the surprised faunus who didn't manage to duck away in time. He went flying back, nearly landing on Blake's stirring form.

Torchwick stalked over, grinning madly. He raised his cane at the two meddling annoying kids when he suddenly didn't have his cane in his hand. He turned in place, seeing a stranger in a full black body suit and helmet, wearing Torchwick's hat and swinging his cane around. The only thing of color on the bodysuit was a blood red P.

Torchwick's eyes widened as he looked at the Promethean in front of him, surprise evident.

 _Been so long since I saw that expression on his face and it feels just as good._

Jaune walked over, putting Torchwick's hat back in its rightful place. "You just don't look right with it, you know. You look like you shop at Hot Topic or whatever emo store this place has."

Torchwick opened his mouth to say something but Jaune wasn't done yet. "Ah ah ah, you must be wondering why I stopped you from killing these children. The answer is because it's not cool to kill children. We may support you Torchwick, but we do not condone the killing of innocents. Until it benefits us of course." All this was said in an inappropriately cheerful tone.

Torchwick's face grew even more surprised and Jaune felt himself experience strong déjà vu. In a strained voice Torchwick managed to reply, "Are all of you alike? Prometheus C was a huge smartass just like you."

"We're more alike than you think, though tread carefully. C may be fine with your insolence but I may have a different line. You will know when you cross it; it will be very painful."

Torchwick drew back slightly. "Is that a threat?"

"Why yes, it is. C wasn't wrong about you; you look smarter than you are." Jaune gave enough of a pause to let the insult sink in. "Anyways, I want you to deliver two crates of Dust to the location C had given you. A tax for your rude behavior."

Torchwick seethed but knew that the Prometheans and him were not on equal ground. They had direct contact with Cinder and that meant they outranked him. But that didn't mean he liked it, dammit!

"That's a good boy!" Jaune yelled out one more taunt at the retreating figure of Torchwick before turning to the faunus and Blake, who were now both awake and staring at him.

"A Promethean? What are you doing here?" Blake eyed him suspiciously and Jaune couldn't blame her.

"I think a little gratitude would be helpful, no? I just stopped Roman there from blowing both of you to itty bitty pieces."

A stunned silence set in as both the faunus looked at each other realizing their close brush with death.

"Did you guys think that you were invincible? That two hunters in training, first years from the sight of you, could take on a criminal wanted across Vale? Someone who hasn't been caught by the entire police and even some Hunters?"

Both of them looked away from him in shame, realizing their idiocy. Sometimes all it took for you to feel stupid was someone just stating what you did.

"You both don't look stupid so maybe it was just hubris? Think about it. What would your teammates, your friends, go through if they found your bodies here? Would they praise your sacrifice or curse your bravery? Seriou-"

Jaune didn't have time to finish his sentence as something struck him hard in the side followed by a large crack. He was hurled across the ship, crashing and rolling, his Barrier dust shield breaking. His aura had taken a large dip and he scrambled behind a crate to prevent whatever had hit him from hitting him again.

 _That was Crescent Rose_ , Jaune thought, finally recognizing the sound of the sniper-scythe. _And that means Ruby is here. Time to skedaddle._

Jaune crept into the shadows again, sneaking around the perimeter of the ship. Not being able to resist, he waved out.

"Good shot that! But you will have to try harder than that!" He promptly ducked back into the shadows and made his way back to Beacon, satisfied with how everything had turned out. Until Ruby had shown up at least, but you couldn't have everything.

…

In the morning, Jaune was relieved to see that team RWBY seemed to be even more close knit. It seemed like Weiss and Blake had buried the hatchet and decided to ignore Blake's past.

He had learned the faunus was called Sun and was a student that had come in from Mistral to participate in the Vytal Festival's tournament. He had snuck aboard the ship after missing the flight that the rest of his team, SSSN (which was pronounced Sun. Mistral seemed to care even less about team names and sense) had taken.

Everyone was having fun and joking around at the breakfast table. Jaune was thoroughly enjoying himself and so obviously life had to put an end to that, in the form of a phone call from Torchwick.

Jaune had taken the call and tried to not to start immediately yelling. Roman was one of the whiniest people he knew when things didn't go his way. Jaune listened to him rant about the incident at the dock and how Jaune's 'red eyed band of clowns' were trashing his reputation and how Torchwick wouldn't be able to so much as rent a paperclip from anyone if he continued to be humiliated like that.

Apparently all faunus have really good hearing and guess who made up all the White Fang soldiers?

Jaune had interrupted Torchwick and told him that he would put in a request but couldn't do promise anything.

If Torchwick continued to be a pain every time Jaune made fun of him, Jaune would…well Jaune still wouldn't stop. It was just too much damn fun.

Jaune ended the call before Torchwick could continue his tirade. He had a bunch of weapon repairs that were scheduled for today and he wanted to get them out of the way so he could keep working.

He headed back up to his lab after finishing breakfast. He pulled out the first weapon, a cross between a sword of similar design to a gladiator's and a stun gun. The problem was that the prongs of the stun gun would keep getting stuck as they shot out of the handle. Jaune shook his head. Letting students design their own weapons was not the best idea, himself excluded.

He practically took the weapon apart and rearranged some of the components and mechashift mechanisms to make shooting the leads of the stun gun faster and easier. He had made the weapon lighter while he was at it, taking out a lot of the unneeded parts and remaking some parts with his own alloys.

After finished up the actual repair, Jaune put in a chip that would track the weapon wherever it went. It was to help the owner track it in case it got lost, but it was also to help alert Jaune of any students that could hinder him while he was out in Vale on Promethean business.

He had also thought of adding in remote deactivators that could stop the weapon from doing anything like shooting or transforming if Jaune desired it. After some experimentation, he had abandoned that thought regretfully as it would be too obvious when a student opened the weapon up to do self-repairs.

After he was done with all the repairs for the day, he turned to work on a little side project he had been working on. A robotic butler he had planning to help him and his friends out around school. Its name was Alfred, an obscure a reference as could be, since only he would get it.

He had even programmed a British accent for the AI just for added giggles. It would help him plan his day, take over tasks for his team like keeping Nora entertained, and even cook for them. Nora's birthday was soon and he was planning on revealing Alfred on the occasion along with a large castle shaped pancake decorated in Nora's favorite color: pink.

He had been creating the body for it, a sturdy skeleton that could take an immense beating, similar to the combat droids in the training center. He put on a synthetic skin after padding the skeleton with fake muscles. He had thought of growing real skin from stem cells harvested from clones but it would've been too much work.

The end result was a human looking android that was as close to real intelligence as Jaune had dared. It wouldn't think of itself as a real human, Jaune had read enough science fiction to know that it was a bad time for everyone when a robot decided it was human.

It would interact and behave close to how a real human would, but it wouldn't be too close, to prevent anyone from getting too attached to him. That was another lesson the books had taught him.

Of course Jaune couldn't just make a semi-sentient robot butler and be happy with it. He had added in defense and tracking subroutines as well as a connection to the CCT to ensure that he would always be ready to assist when needed to. Jaune had added in many guns and such into the skeleton itself, ready to be drawn and fired at a moment's notice.

It had taken months (he had been planning this for a long time) to make everything from scratch, and Jaune couldn't be prouder with the result. He activated the large Shock crystal that powered Alfred and waited for the boot-up sequence. Setting all the parameters and assigning each person in Beacon to various categories from _Teachers_ to _Just Avoid_ to _Really Important_ , it took a while before Alfred was up and ready.

"What is our next step master Arc?"

Jaune cracked a smile.

…

"OH MY GOD JAUNE IS THAT A STACK OF PANCAKES SHAPED LIKE A CASTLE? THERE'S EVEN FOUR OF US ON IT! REN LOOK!" Nora's yells and squeals of joy were sure to wake up the entire school, but Jaune didn't care. Nora was a good friend and like a sister to him, and he loved how delighted she was.

"I can see that Nora. How about we let the school have their sleep? It is Sunday after all." Ren's calm reply was expected.

Jaune saw Pyrrha stare at him happily, surprised at the effort he had put in. Leaning in, he whispered. "Now I know you're impressed with my superior baking skills, but there's something bigger coming. Don't tell Nora, she might pop a blood vessel."

Pyrrha giggled, the sound musical. "Jaune, what did you do now? Don't tell me you added a way for her hammer to act like a boomerang?"

They both stopped in their laughing and looked at each other mortified, silently promising never to speak of giving Nora something that was even more destructive.

Jaune grinned again. "No, it's nothing like that. It's going to be useful for all of us, even team RWBY."

Jaune handed out plates with pancakes on them to everyone and they all watched Nora rip into the huge stack of pancakes, her face caked in maple syrup, laughing the whole way.

"You said you have a way to handle the sugar high she's going to have after this. If it doesn't work, I'm blaming you for the damage." Ren said as he saw Nora cackle delightedly as she tore down a 'wall' of the pancake castle.

"If Beacon is still standing, you mean." They both chuckled.

Nora finished faster than most people finished breakfast, rubbing her stomach contentedly. She hopped up off the bench and bounced around.

"Hey Nora, you want to thank the person who made those pancakes?" Ren called after her as she dashed around almost as fast as Pro…Dr. Oobleck.

"Thanks Jaune, you're my best friend! Well Ren is, but I think he doesn't mind sharing. Those pancakes were so good and tasty and they were so soft and can you please make more sometime soon? How about now? It's been long enough! C'mon!" She rambled excitedly as she pulled Jaune to his feet.

"Woah woah, Nora, no need to thank me, I didn't actually make them." They all looked at him curiously, Nora looking a bit put out that her team leader hadn't actually made the pancakes. Now how was she supposed to get a limitless supply of them?

"Everyone, meet Alfred. He was the one who made them." Jaune gestured at the kitchen of the cafeteria where Alfred stepped out in a suit and jacket, hanging up an apron as he approached the tables.

"Hello Miss Valkyrie, I'm glad you enjoyed the pancakes. A special recipe, perfected by a long line of chefs. And don't look so sad, your wish for pancakes is granted! I am now your team's butler, and will be cooking for you young fellows." He looked around at their stunned faces jovially.

Jaune grinned. _Maybe I should make like a collection of faces I've induced utter surprise or confusion on. I already have a great headstart._

…

Both team JNPR and team RWBY were sitting at the cafeteria. It was the first day of break and Ruby had called them together to discuss a plan she had had.

Blake was reading a book as usual, Weiss was primly eating food, Yang was eating grapes tossed at her by Nora, Ren was sitting calmly, and Pyrrha and Jaune were talking animatedly about fight strategies. Pretty normal off day for both teams.

What was not normal was the huge binder Ruby slammed onto their table. It was at least twice as thick as their History textbook (which was twice as thick as the Grimm Studies textbook). The cover read 'Best Day Ever Activities' in bright red ink, scribbled over something that suspiciously looked like 'Property of Weiss Schnee'.

Ruby cleared her throat to get their attention, somewhat unnecessarily as the large thud had gotten the attention of everyone at their table and tables around them.

"Sisters! Friends! Weiss." Weiss's yell of protest was ignored. "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."

"This ought to be good." Yang caught a strawberry in her mouth, nodding her appreciation at Nora.

"A dream that one day, the eight of us would come together and have the most fun anyone has ever had, ever!" Ruby soldiered on, ignoring both Yang's quip and Weiss's accusation of binder-stealing.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"Well guys, we all worked really hard over the semester and I think we all need to start the break off with a bang!" Ruby threw her hands up in excitement.

"Well, I'd rather start things off with a _Yang_. Eh? Anyone?" Yang grinned and looked around, only seeing distraught faces at her terrible pun. An apple smacked her in the face, courtesy of a nearby table. Yang threw it back, missing the culprit table and hitting the one behind it instead, knocking juice everywhere.

"I don't know; I think I'd rather not get in anything too exciting." Blake started reading again.

"Well, whatever we do, we should all do it toge…" The rest of the word was mumbled as her face was covered in pie.

Her face turned red below the icing as she glared at Nora, who at least had the decency of looking slightly ashamed. Weiss, all thoughts of being proper and ordered gone from her head, grabbed a ketchup bottle, hurling it at JNPR's table. It bounced off the hard surface, flew through the air and exploded on a table nearby, covering its occupants with red sauce. They all shrieked and ran from the cafeteria, hoping to salvage their uniforms.

This attack opened the floodgates as everyone started throwing everything they could get their hands on. Jaune didn't even know that the school served some of the things being thrown around.

 _Hold the line, was that a friggin swordfish? What?!_

Jaune ran to the kitchen along with a crowd of other students, pulling out trays of spices that he stuffed into his hands and pockets. His uniform was already ruined from the splatters of food flying through the air, he may as well go all in.

He spied Pyrrha throwing soda cans, arcing the cans with her ability to control metal. Jaune had been so very jealous of Pyrrha when he had learned that. It would've been really useful in the lab when five different things around the room were threatening to explode at the same time. Jaune had been exhausted running back and forth across the lab the whole day.

Nora had gotten her hands on a pipe and a watermelon and was smacking people through the large windows of the cafeteria. Jaune motioned to her. She cleared her latest victim across the cafeteria and bounded over to him.

"Nora, it's time for Plan Castle Bunker. Tell Pyrrha and Ren, we need to get it done quickly before RWBY catches on."

Nora nodded, her eyes shining with excitement.

The plan was simple. Use whatever was around them to create a fort to fend off any attackers. It had been originally thought up to defend against Grimm attacks in the wild, but this seemed a good a place to put it in action as any.

Nora and Pyrrha used their strength to lift tables and chairs, following Jaune's orders on placement. He had the entire plans to the fort memorized. It would be very easily defendable, with winding corridors that had overhangs to dump liquids over any invading force. He had secured bottles of honey that he now poured into a vat. It would hang over the entrance, ready to surprise any incoming enemies.

Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha all ran in and barricaded the hallway. Climbing to the top, they surveyed the land. Team RWBY had managed to reign victorious over everyone else as bodies lay around them, covered in pieces of food and slathered in condiments.

Ruby held up a milk carton. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!" Ruby squeezed the milk carton, spraying milk. Her team cheered behind her, scooping up weapons of choice as they rushed forwards.

"Off with their heads!" Nora proclaimed in her attempt at a regal tone. They gathered up watermelons and loaded them into baskets strapped to planks that were balanced as if they were a seesaw. Jaune ran down the rows, launching each makeshift catapult's loads at the enemy.

The watermelons shattered around the charging members of RWBY, some barely missing. Ren had readied a second load and aimed it further in. Jaune launched them all yet again, this time knowing they would hit the girls.

"Yang! Go!" Ruby called. Yang moved ahead, slamming her turkey-covered fists together. _Seriously, where the hell did she get the idea to do that? Where the hell did she get the turkeys?!_

Yang waited for the watermelons to start descending before going to town. She kicked and punched, her limbs a blur as each hapless melon burst before hitting the ground.

Blake decided to join in, holding two baguettes. _Ok, how the hell is that going to help? Maybe it's really stale?_

The two partners made short work of the remaining watermelons. Yang launched her turkeys at the fort, knocking out some of the supporting tables' legs. The whole structure shifted slightly as Jaune cursed. "Pyrrha! Engage Blake!"

Pyrrha nodded once, grabbing a baguette for herself. She met Blake in the middle ground, slamming her own bread onto the raven-haired girl's. They disengaged, moving backwards. Pyrrha spun, trying to get Blake from the side, but Blake had anticipated that.

Jumping over the swing, Blake spun and tried to hit Pyrrha with her two blades. Pyrrha reacted quickly, cartwheeling backwards and swinging her own response at Blake.

Blake activated her semblance, using the image to boost herself up off the ground. She turned in midair, throwing a bread like a javelin.

Unfortunately for her, Pyrrha dodged out of the way and lunged forwards, striking Blake's now undefended torso, sending her flying backwards, crumbs trailing her, her own bread flying out of her hands.

Pyrrha caught it and used is as a javelin to try and surprise Yang at a distance. She quickly followed it up by two more, the second one slipping past her defense and slamming her to the floor.

Jaune saw Weiss find the swordfish that had been thrown earlier. He nodded at Nora who jumped off the castle, engaging the heiress, who could only evade the powerful swings Nora threw her way. Jaune saw Yang get up and nodded to Ren.

Ren had grabbed two long stick-like vegetables Jaune had never seen before. He used them to block Yang's once again turkey covered fists. Both Ren and Yang knew that the tactic was only to buy time, but there was nothing Yang could do except go along with it.

He glanced back at Nora who had launched Weiss into a pillar onto the far side of the hall. _One down._

He glanced back at Ren, only to see both him and Yang ten feet in the air, Yang poised to deliver a solid strike straight into Ren's back. Jaune cringed as Ren was slammed into the tables below him. Nora had seen it too, and launched herself at Yang, who tried her best to avoid the hammer.

A couple swings later, Nora finally caught Yang right in the rib cage, launching her literally through the roof and into the sunny sky. _Two down._

While Weiss and Yang were being dealt with, Blake had managed to get up and get hold of a sausage chain. Swinging it around, she slammed it into a surprised Nora, launching her backwards into a soda machine, breaking it.

Jaune decided to play his next card. "Pyrrha! Plan Color Pop!"

Pyrrha looked at him in confusion.

He sighed. He had told her of this idea of weaponizing something no one would suspect: soda cans! _She had even used them earlier in the food fight!_

"The soda, launch the soda!" Jaune yelled, waving his arms exasperatedly.

"Ah right! Sorry!" came the response.

She crouched down, concentrating. The cans all around her suddenly lifted into the air and formed two pincers, each containing dozens of cans.

One slammed into Blake, each can exploding and launching Blake backwards into a wall. It held her there for a second as the barrage continued before she slumped to the ground, out for the count. _Three down, and we have three left. Great odds._

Ruby looked at Blake's body, lying crumpled on the ground and then at Jaune's smirking face, rage and a promise of pain in her eyes. She crouched, then activated her semblance, running inhumanly fast.

Air bent around her, dust and debris flying into the cyclone Ruby was creating. Pyrrha lost control of the remaining pincer and all the cans joined the deadly looking cyclone. Jaune saw Ruby heading for them, and knew that there was nothing he had that could stop the incoming barrage. But he sure as hell wasn't going to let Ruby win.

He had stuffed the spices that he had taken into napkins and tied them off, creating a sort of grenade. Waiting for Ruby to completely commit to her course, he heaved them at her, the little bundles exploding over her body, flying into her eyes.

She fell to the ground, clawing at her eyes. Jaune barely had time to be smug before the cyclone hit him and his team, throwing them into their fort, collapsing the entire structure on top of them,

 _What a start of break, a food fight and guaranteed detention from Goodwitch!_

He could already tell he would regret this food fight.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	9. Keynote

**Headmaster Ozpin  
**

Jaune looked nervous out of his mind, something that wasn't a common occurrence. But then again, this wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

Ozpin stood next to Jaune, waiting for the curtains to open so he could introduce Jaune to the audience. Jaune was to go out and give a keynote to a large audience filled with journalists and people of note among the weapons industry, each of them a shark, ready to devour anyone new and promising in the business to shreds.

The keynote was to begin the weapons showcase that Jaune had told Ozpin he wanted to put on, displaying all the weapons he had made to the crowd.

The middle aged headmaster looked at Jaune as the curtains started moving.

He was exceptional, the smartest student Ozpin had seen in years. The ideas that Jaune had had been clever, slight tweaks here and there to improve efficiency in everything from motors to software. Ozpin had implemented these upgrades and iterations into Beacon, resulting in an overall better security system.

Ozpin wanted to see what would happen if he had let the boy do whatever he pleased. He had told Glynda to get certain supplies. Glynda had turned many colors upon seeing the list and had ranted about the expenses, mumbling choice words about Ozpin's mother and alcohol before leaving the room.

In the end, the gambit had paid off and Ozpin was right. The boy had pumped out blueprint after blueprint, many of them about the school's defense against a Grimm attack. However, one problem presented itself: the rate at which the supplies were being used up.

Only a fool would believe that Jaune alone was using double the R&D Department's allotment by himself while doing the same thing. Something else was up.

He had confronted Jaune about this and Jaune had admitted that he had been making many different types and quantities of weapons, intending to show them off at a later date. A convincing lie, if Ozpin was anyone else. The boy wasn't building weapons to just show them off at showcases, he had been dealing with shady characters inside Beacon. Ozpin had managed to get one recording of a shadowy man sneaking out of Beacon, away from Jaune's lab.

Ozpin was impressed by Jaune's tenacity in selling weapons to likely criminals in Beacon itself. Ozpin had decided to pretend to believe Jaune's excuse about a weapons showcase and force Jaune to reveal all of his weapons. This plan wouldn't harm Jaune as he could still weapons, but to legitimate sources rather than dubious criminals. Another added benefit was that Beacon would get a majority cut of the sales since Jaune was both a minor and a student.

That lead to two months of planning and preparation, getting all the prototypes and weapons ready, planning the venue, setting up the structures necessary, and sending cryptic invites to companies in the weapons industry. The news had covered this development closely, talking about the surprise event that Beacon Academy was planning and what had spurred such an event to take place.

The days had ticked down and the only thing the student body talked about was the crates they had seen being delivered to the pavilion. Some guessed that new types of Dust were being shown off, others were disagreeing and giving their own opinions on the matter. All the invitees had arrived one by one, staying at the guest wing that Beacon reserved for visitors. Ozpin was forced to meet with each of the visitors, and nothing he would say would convince Glynda otherwise.

 _If she wasn't the only reason Beacon was still running, I would fire her_ , Ozpin seethed as he had endured the socializing, knowing that the other party didn't enjoy it either.

The first day of the expo had finally arrived and the curtains signaling the first event had begun. Literally.

Ozpin took his hand off Jaune's shoulder and walked forwards into the blinding light of the stage.

 **Jaune Arc  
**

"You all must be wondering why I have brought you here today. The reason is to showcase some of the technologies we have developing here at Beacon. As we all know, Grimm attacks are increasing in frequency, not just here in Vale but on the borders of every kingdom."

The audience murmured, some nodding their assent.

"The primary purpose of hunter schools is to train the guardians of humanity, those who will risk their lives to ensure that we can live ours without worry. Everyone from Hunters to policemen, from guards to soldiers." Ozpin continued.

"To fight their best, weapons are created. Swords, pistols, rifles, tridents, staffs, and many more. All complement their user, helping them work their destruction on the enemy faster, better, easier. To that end, you all use your talents to make them better. Today, we have one among us who has excelled in his craft. We are here to showcase the achievements he has accomplished. Jaune Arc, ladies and gentlemen." Ozpin tilted his slightly at Jaune, arm extended as he backed away from the mic.

 _Here goes nothing._

Jaune strode towards the mic, trying to stay upright and exude confidence. His stride became a little longer and slower, each breath deep, a smile on his face.

He reached the mic and looked at the audience. "Hello folks. As Professor Ozpin said, I am Jaune Arc, first year at this prestigious school. For the past 8 months, I have been developing my own weapons for use in many applications. First, I'd like to present my own weapon, which I have dubbed _Crocea Mors_. It means Yellow Death, and I think you all will realize why soon."

There was a row of benches covered in cloth behind him, all covered in cloth. He took the cover of the first one and gripped the hilt to his sword, still sheathed. He had worked on the railgun section of it, tweaking and tuning.

Now, he could load the projectile in through the side of the blade rather than the front and could do so without activating the railgun section. The charge speed had been improved 30%, taking the time down from 5 seconds to 3 and a half.

He had also worked on the projectiles themselves. He now had two types: the old javelin one that was designed to penetrate heavy armor, and a new one that was designed for smaller targets.

They were round and fitted with a proximity fuse as well as being airburst. Deadly for anything without armor.

He had also given it an aesthetical overhaul, shining the metal up and painting the hilt shades of gold and yellow.

He activated Barrier crystals embedded in the stage, a very faint shield rising up between the stage and the audience. He unsheathed his sword, the sheath transforming into a shield. He raised his sword and waved it around, demonstrating the weight.

Taking a stance, he waited for the ursa that Professor Port had captured to be herded onto the stage. The audience looked a little impatient, thinking that all he had was the sword in his hand and that they had wasted their time coming here.

 _Wait and see, ya jabronis. You'll be all over each other trying to get this tech when I'm done._

A bell rang out, followed by a roar. The shadows bent as the dark form of the large ursa bounded up to him.

"An Ursa Major. It's armor plating can deflect most melee and ranged weapons, making it a dangerous enemy to fight alone." Port's voice boomed out the speakers. Jaune ducked and weaved, slashing at the armor of the beast, scoring it but not going through.

Jaune created space, point proved. He pulled out his spear projectile and loaded it into the slot, full length expanding inside the weapon. He started charging, eyeing the ursa. To anyone, it looked like Jaune was simply waiting for the Grimm to strike.

The weapon pinged, the sound of it being fully charged. Jaune pointed the weapon at the Grimm, aura covered hands on the blade holding it steady.

He pulled the trigger, the projectile speeding away followed by a yellow arc of ionized metal and air.

One moment there was the Ursa Major, mouth open in a snarl as it started to lunge through the air at Jaune, the audience cringing in anticipation.

The next moment, the Ursa's corpse flew through the air, fluid spraying out of the gaping hole in its back. Jaune sidestepped out of the way and bowed to the audience.

 _Every single time, that stunned silence, it's so sweet._

Bending back up, he pulled up a diagram of the insides of the sword, showing the acceleration chamber and the mechashift mechanisms.

"Yes, as you probably have realized by now, I have indeed managed to make a smaller railgun and fit it into my sword. While not as powerful as a larger version, this railgun still can impart significant damage to individual targets."

Jaune waited for the reaction and was not disappointed as reporters started snapping pictures, and many people took notes and made calls.

 _And now to keep showing off_ , Jaune thought, having fun now.

…

 **Pyrrha Nikos  
**

Teams JNPR and RWBY were sitting in the library, ostensibly having gone there to study.

In reality, RWBY was playing a strategic card game, making loud noises and sounds of despair. Nora slept, muttering about pancakes, Ren was off finding a book to borrow for the History project they had to do ('50 pages on the effects of Faunus discrimination on the morale of soldiers in the war!'), and Pyrrha, well she just sat there thinking.

There were many things she thought about, combat classes, team strategies, classes, her parents, but the thing dominating her thoughts was a certain blond genius.

When she had first met him in the school cafeteria, she had been taken aback by his seeming lack of knowledge about her. Weiss she had understood, not many people paid attention to the business world and not recognizing the Schnee Dust Company Heiress on first sight wasn't too unusual.

What had struck her was that he hadn't heard of her before! No person she had met yet had not had some inkling of her name, and this boy had just started talking to her like some normal girl!

Later on during their sparring bouts, she had recognized some of her own moves being used against her. Questioning Jaune had led to the confession that he had known about her for a while and had studied some of her tournament footage in order to bolster his own fighting skill.

He had gone further to explain that he had originally feigned ignorance because he wanted to see what kind of person she was, and how she would react to someone who didn't know of her fame. That simple statement had caused her to hug him hard and laugh, confusing the heck out of him, going off of his expression

'Oh Jaune, you have no idea how happy that makes me!' Pyrrha had been elated. _Jaune knew about me yet he wanted to give a first impression of being a goof? All to get to know me?_

After the cafeteria incident, her interest in him had increased majorly. She knew that she had to be on a team with him, the only person she had met at Beacon so far that seemed to want to know her as a person.

Her first attempt at securing his partnership had almost met with disaster, as her thrown javelin had barely missed his body. A direct hit would've taken a chunk from his aura, and that is never good when facing the Grimm.

She had been relieved when he decided to forgive her, and a smile never fully left her face for the rest of initiation. She was going to be making some real friends! People who cared for her, and not the Invincible Girl!

That's when the explosion had happened. After defeating the Nevermore that had been disoriented by the shock wave, they rushed to the site to see Jaune's broken body laid out across tree stumps.

The image of the blonde's twisted arms and the pool of blood below him would haunt Pyrrha sometimes. She had seen injuries during tournaments, knew the risks of being a huntress, but she had never yet seen the result of the occupational hazards up close and personal before.

They had called in an emergency medical ship that had been on call to take Jaune back to Beacon's hospital for treatment, bringing the matter to the attention of the whole school.

'Maybe he's just not cut out for Beacon' 'Who's his partner? Pyrrha Nikos?! Poor girl, having to have a dead weight on her team.' 'Only person to be physically injured during initiation in the last three years. What a chump.'

Pyrrha ignored the whispering while walking down the hallway during the day that Jaune had made his surprisingly fast recovery. She had seen him fighting the beowolves. His style showed that he had no practical experience against the Grimm, but he had made it into Beacon, that had to count for something right?

The night Jaune had been discharged, he had told her that he had grown up outside the kingdoms. That information implied that he had survived against the Grimm for 17 years, but his performance during initiation spoke otherwise.

Later that night, he had dropped a bombshell on her. He wouldn't be attending any classes that were academic, and instead be holed up in the R&D Wing, working on who knows what.

She had been distraught and unbelieving at first. _He's my partner! How can the partnership work out if he isn't even here half the time?_

Her logical side kicking in, she connected the dots between the rumors of a new Weapons assistant and Jaune's statement.

Reassured that Ozpin had approved Jaune's skipping of classes, Pyrrha had gone to bed, content.

…

 **Jaune Arc  
**

The subject of Pyrrha's thoughts stepped off the stage to ringing applause. He had shown off some of his pet projects, like a pair of pistols that shot small lasers, intended to burn and cauterize exposed flesh, slowing down their target Grimm.

The audience had paid rapt attention to each demonstration, cameras rolling almost non-stop. A lot of executives had shrewd and hungry looks on their face, thinking of the profits that could be made from these weapons.

There were still a couple days left in the expo, today was only for personal weapon systems. As soon as his feet stepped off the steps leading onto the stage, reporters swarmed him like flies around honey.

'Mr. Arc, did you make all these yourself?' 'Mr. Arc, how did you manage to build so many things?' 'Mr Arc, who are you going to sell these weapons to?'

Jaune simply smiled and waved them all away, moving through the crush towards Ozpin's office. General Ironwood of Atlas was going to meet him today and there was no way in hell he was going to be late for that meeting.

…

 **Ruby Rose  
**

"It's over! Let's go Yang c'mooooooon." Ruby bounced around the room, already fully dressed to go out. "Jaune's arranged for a whole show floor filled with his weapons and a bunch of weapon and upgrade ideas! It's starting to open now and I wanna go cmooon Yang!"

Her sister just glared at her. She was still miffed that Ruby had betrayed their alliance during the card game earlier in the library. "Why don't you just take Weiss? You seem to love her more than your own darling sister."

Ruby pouted, puppy dog eyes already forming. "But Yang…!"

Yang just turned away, not wanting to risk it. 17 years of being an older sister to Ruby and she still hadn't developed a resistance.

"No Ruby, I'm not interested in fawning over weapons, I have better things to do."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "Like what? Studying last semester's notes before school starts again?"

"Nope. Cool stuff, not for little dorks like you."

Ruby huffed and stomped out of the room.

 _Who can I take? Blake, no way she's going. Weiss? She's probably studying. Ren? Too quiet, and won't go without Nora coming along and there is nooooo way I'm taking her. Pyrrha could come, she would be fun to hang out with._

Mind made up, she knocked on the door.

Pyrrha opened the door. "Hello Ruby, going to Jaune's exhibit?"

"How'd you know?" Ruby was surprised, did Pyrrha read her mind?

"Just a guess Ruby, just a guess." Pyrrha laughed.

"Haha, it was a good one. I actually wanted to ask you if you wanted to come along and check it out?" Ruby had a slightly pleading tone.

Pyrrha's grin grew wider. "I'd love to Ruby, let me change and we'll be off."

…

 **Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune rode the elevator up to Ozpin's office, wondering what Ironwood had to say about the presentation. He and Ozpin had watched most of it from the office and so Jaune hadn't seen their reactions yet.

He reached the floor, strode across the hallway and opened the door.

Ozpin was standing at his window, staring out at the grounds where the open floor was taking place. There were people milling all around the exhibitions, crowds developing at some of the more impressive exhibits, his railgun for example.

A man stood beside Ozpin, conversing in low tones with him, not looking out of the window. He was a formidable looking man, face severe. He had greying hair on the side of his hair, the rest black and neatly combed on the top of his head. He had a patch of metal above his right eye, piquing Jaune's curiosity. His eyebrows were solid black and arching.

Jaune caught a few words in the conversation, 'Queen', 'pawns', and 'maiden'. He couldn't make any sense out of the last one, but the first two brought the conversation with the mysterious voice back to him with a jolt.

"Um, Professor Ozpin? Am I interrupting?" Jaune asked, already backing out of the door a little. "I can wait outside."

"No it's fine Jaune, you are not. Please, take a seat. Our talk will continue later, James." Ironwood scowled, obviously displeased. He remained standing even as Ozpin sat down.

Jaune took the offered seat, feeling awkward standing while Ironwood still stood.

Ozpin spoke up, breaking the silence. "That was a splendid presentation Jaune. You captured the audience's attention and never let them take it away. Your demonstrations were flawless, though you could use a bit more polishing on your attacks, your relative inexperience showed."

"To be honest, that made it all the more impressive." Ironwood spoke up, his voice commanding. "It showed how even a first-year student could handle smaller Grimm with ease, without years of training with the weapons."

"Indeed, James, indeed. Now Jaune, General Ironwood here wants to talk to you about some questions he has."

Jaune turned towards Ironwood, ready for the questioning. He knew most of the questions that the General could ask about his weapons, the media had asked most of them already. Mentally bored already, he sighed internally.

"Alright General Ironwood, what is it you wish to know?"

…

 **Pyrrha Nikos  
**

"So Pyrrha! How was Jaune'sweapon showcase?" Nora asked, bouncing on her bed.

"It was fun!"

Seeing Jaune's work revealed for the first time had been quite thrilling. She knew her partner was really good at making stuff, but seeing the creativity exhibited by his various designs made her feel proud towards him.

"What'd you guys do? Ren and I just sat here, he wanted to study, I wanted to go to the showcase, but then he promised me he would make me double pancakes tomorrow! Alfred can make delicious pancakes, but no one can beat Ren!"

Ah right, Alfred. It had been a month since Nora's birthday and the unveiling of Alfred, the robot butler. Jaune had told them about how he had spent a couple months building him for JNPR's use and how he had coded the ability to cook with Nora in mind.

Pyrrha had felt an honestly alien feeling stirring in her when he had declared that so casually. It was the same feeling that she had gotten whenever her class went on field trips and she had been forced to stay at home and train.

Jealousy. She didn't understand why she felt that way, Nora was like Jaune's little sister by this time, every around them knew that. So why did she feel this way that Jaune had spent so much effort on Nora's birthday present?

She had shoved those thoughts into a corner for later, deciding to react to the immediate present. Jaune had created an honest to god, butler robot. She felt as if she was in a cartoon, one of the few she had watched as a child.

She was still shocked by the robot, even after a month. Alfred would take care of their laundry, planning it all out perfectly. He would make coffee (tea for Ren) during late night study sessions. He would clean the room while they were in class and remind them of anything they had to do. He made food for them on special occasions, like when the cafeteria didn't have pancakes, or Nora managed to get a good grade on a test.

Pyrrha sat down on her bed, waiting to discuss the expo with Jaune. They would chat on most nights, mostly about Pyrrha's day. Jaune was a good listener, knowing what to say at the right time. Pyrrha had grown to look forwards to these chats and had started becoming disappointed when Jaune would conk out the moment he got in bed.

 _Why do I feel that way? He's just a really good friend and partner, and I enjoy the chats!_ But Pyrrha could tell that that wasn't the truth.

Again pushing these thoughts to the corner, she sat back and relaxed, reflecting on the day.

…

 **Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune stepped out of the office, head swimming with excitement. Ironwood had wanted in on the deal that Jaune and Ozpin had: blueprints, upgrades, and weapons in exchange for a supply of resources.

Ironwood was willing to expand the capabilities of Beacon's airship hangar. He had offered to add in a bigger garage and a larger crew to work on the planes. He said that he wanted Jaune to test out some of his more experimental ideas for airships.

Jaune's head swam with new ideas as he thought about the larger pool of resources he now had, along with a larger hangar, and clearance from Ozpin to work on some of his bigger projects.

This was the happiest he had felt in a while, the possibilities just shooting through his head.

But like all good things, this pseudohigh had to come to a crashing, sudden halt as Jaune's scroll rang to indicate a message.

 _We need to meet, now. My place._

 _-Cinder_

Jaune almost punched a hole in the elevator.

He jogged towards his room, royally pissed off at Cinder for interrupting his moment of joy.

 _Who does she think she is, calling me like that? I seriously feel like a dog right now._

Jaune walked into his room and fell into bed, ignoring Pyrrha's voice as he closed his eyes and slipped into Prometheus C.

With great difficulty, he managed to avoid all the people swarming around Beacon, and headed out to Vale.

…

"Alright Cinder, what do you want?" Jaune walked into the room he had first talked to Cinder in.

"Now now, C, why are you in such a bad mood? You never acted this way before." Cinder's voice drawled as she sat on the couch, legs crossed in front of her, her familiar red dress glowing slightly in the candlelight.

"Perhaps it's because someone decided to call me like I was their pet. You know I don't like that." Jaune sat down in his familiar place, staring at Cinder.

She stared back, her eyes glowing. "Oh but dear C, this is of utmost importance. Have you seen the news coverage of that weapons expo up at Beacon? They had some wonderful weapons there.

Jaune froze. He knew where this was going, and that direction would not be good for the Prometheans at all.

"I have indeed seen that showcase. The Arc boy is clever, some of those designs were something even the Promethean designers have not thought of."

"And yet even now I wonder about these Promethean designers you talked about. They made your weapons, yes? How come they are so similar in design to the ones that Jaune showed off on stage? Have you been working with Ozpin, C? Have you betrayed my trust?" Cinder got up and sat down next to him while saying this, reaching a hand out to lay on his chest.

"Oh Cinder, you really can be adorable sometimes and I mean that in the best way. What do the Prometheans have to gain from risking our mutually beneficial partnership, especially for someone like Ozpin? Seems to me like you're jealous of me hanging out with other people Cinder."

Jaune knew that pushing Cinder was a bad idea, but he was already mad at her. Plus, it made it seem that C was laughing at the idea, which would cause Cinder to doubt her suspicions. It would put quite a damper on his plans if Cinder was to antagonize the Prometheans, seeing as how she was much more powerful than he was, and that she had dozens of guards outside, with many more loyal to her around Vale. He literally only had himself.

"Oh C, do you really think I would be jealous of you going to other people? And you still haven't answered my question, C." At this, Cinder's palm grew uncomfortably warm against Jaune. He activated a little bit of Barrier Dust, concentrating the barrier around Cinder's hand, reducing the heat.

He stared into her glowing eyes and tried to read everything he could deduce.

"Cinder, you want to know the truth? Here's the truth. The Jaune boy is an ally to the Prometheans. We have stayed in contact with him in Beacon, and he has been supplying us with designs and ideas. There, is Your Highness satisfied now? And about your hand, there are other ways to heat things up, you know."

Cinder leaned further in, her face inches from his, her breath tickling his chin a little. "Oh yes, C, my mind is very much at rest about your loyalty. Thank you for the truth. And I'll keep that in mind." She leaned back, her smirk back on her face.

 _She really believes I told the truth? Does she think invading my private space and making me uncomfortable would cause me to spill the beans? She flirted back at my joke for god's sake. She really is insufferable._

"Now, we need to talk about the future of our deal." Cinder stated, a slight edge in her voice.

 _And here it comes._

"What about it Cinder? Do you wish to add more terms to the deal? You of all people know that you can't alter deals after they're made, but I may be happy to oblige, given the right incentives."

Cinder ignored him, irritating Jaune. "The big question is, why do I need to get supplies from the Prometheans, when I can just get it from the source?"

"Because my dear Cinder, that is where you're wrong. Did it occur to you how exactly you would convince Jaune Arc to sell you his weapons rather than selling them to me? Do you have a plan in mind? Don't tell me you were planning on sitting him down, offering him wine, and just getting flirty with him. He may be a teenage boy, but that's just going to scare him."

Cinder glared at him, her fists curling in anger, then releasing. "C, do you not think before you speak? What if I called of our little deal right now? You would be left without a powerful client, and you would have made a powerful enemy." The message was clear: tread carefully.

"Cinder dearest, please do calm down, you don't look as good angry. Now, I have no wish of antagonizing you, just letting you know there is no point in trying to get Jaune Arc to sell to you. The Prometheans have a mutually beneficial deal with him, something that I know you're not going to match. Now unless you do have a better plan tucked away in that pretty head of yours, you're not getting the weapons from him."

Cinder simply tilted her head slightly. "We shall see about that C, we shall see."

"Now, if we're done trying to intimidate each other, I have places to go. I'll see you around Cinder, tata!"

He turned and walked out, not missing the amused smirk that Cinder threw his way.

 _I have a sneak feeling we will be seeing each other around, Cinder. Just not in the way you think._

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	10. Just Meching Around

**Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune stood in awe at the window of his lab, staring outside. Dozens of ships of all sizes were slowly flying across the sky, aiming towards Vale, forming a perimeter. The Atlas symbol glowed brightly in the sunlight.

It was a truly majestic sight, all this firepower, the might of Atlas, coming to Vale for the Vytal Festival. Jaune had enjoyed talking with the General, he seemed to be intelligent and Jaune could tell he was changing his long term plans with each piece of new information Jaune gave him.

In a way, he was just like Jaune and Ozpin, and Jaune respected that.

Jaune turned away from the window, back to the projects he was working on at Ironwood's behest. Upgrades to engines, more aerodynamic designs, all sorts of good stuff. Jaune knew that Remnant still hadn't designed anything like fighter jets, the closest thing to air superiority fighters being versions of the bullheads.

There really was no reason to traverse between the kingdoms except for very specific purposes, like the Vytal Festival, so it made sense of larger air vehicles to be focused on, carrying large quantities of people to their destination.

Jaune had worked on basic conversions of jet engines designs from liquid fuel to Dust fuel, not an easy task because every engine design Jaune had learned about had the limitations posed by fuel alter the design greatly.

Dust, being the practically magical substance it was (Jaune still had no idea what it was made of and how it worked; he had bigger fish to fry), could overcome the limitations of pumping systems, countless fail safes, and the weight of the fuel.

Along with everything going on in his head about his current and future projects, he also had plenty on his mind from events in the past year.

First of all, the vision during his recovery after initiation still came to him sometimes, causing irrational despair. The voice had said they would meet again soon, but it had been many months, and no contact had been established yet.

Next on his list of worries was Cinder. She had all but told him that she planned to infiltrate Beacon to try and get to him, Jaune. He had no idea how she would show up or when, and had been on edge in anticipation of her arrival.

He still had no idea how she would force him to bend to her will, but it wouldn't be pleasant for him that was for sure.

The third thing that had been worrying him had to do with team RWBY. The two teams had gotten quite close over the course of school year, close enough for Jaune to notice something was wrong with them.

The four of them had been acting slightly off ever since the incident at the docks, with Blake being the most off.

She had always spent lots of time in the library, but now she was spending every moment outside of classes and meals in there. Everyone had tried to get her to talk about it, knowing that whatever it was, it had to do with the revelation the White Fang were working with a human on some large scheme.

Jaune had tried to talk to her about it, but she had dismissed him, saying that he 'did not know what he was talking about.'

It was quite rude, but Jaune could see the stress in her eyes and had not been offended. He knew she had some personal issues after her time in the White Fang and didn't want to push her too much.

He had suggested to team RWBY that they could plan an outing to go out and collect information on Torchwick and the White Fang, to help Blake out.

The others had agreed almost immediately, and Jaune volunteered JNPR's help, saying there was no way he was going to let RWBY have all the fun.

That day was today, two days after the expo had finished. He had shown off many upgrades to existing technologies, many different weapon systems to add onto existing airships, etc. People were chattering about how he had managed to make so much at such a young age.

His classmates in Beacon didn't treat him any differently, they knew that he was smart, the expo simply proved that point.

He cleaned up his lab, putting everything back in its place and went to his room to get ready for tonight's adventure.

 **Pyrrha Nikos  
**

"We are gathered here today to go out on a hunt to find the truth. A truth which will resonate through the ages, and we shall be the ones to hunt it." Ruby declared, hands on her hips, standing proud.

Both teams RWBY and JNPR were in RWBY's room, finalizing the preparations for the day.

"Ruby, please just let's get to the plan. We don't have all day." Jaune spoke up, trying to shepherd the conversation along.

"Alright, alright, fine. We have decided to go to four different places, the CCT, Yang's contact, the White Fang recruitment center, as well as the docks, where we last saw the White Fang."

"Ruby and Weiss will be heading to the CCT tower to research about the White Fang and connect the dots between their robberies. Blake will go to the White Fang recruitment meeting today, along with Ren who will stand at the ready to assist if things get ugly. Nora and Pyrrha, head to the docks and try to talk to anyone who has experienced any Dust robberies by them recently. Yang and I will go to her contact's club to try and get him to spill the beans. Any questions?"

No one did. They got their weapons ready and headed out into Vale. Pyrrha hadn't taken Jaune to be one comfortable with going to clubs, heck he wasn't very sociable either, compared to Yang.

He had always stayed within their little group, something not helped by the fact he never had any classes without them, which rather limited the potential pool.

Trusting Jaune's decision, after all he was their leader, Pyrrha just smiled and nodded. She looked at Yang, who looked excited to go out, and felt that strange feeling again.

 _Why? Why do I feel this way? Jaune is just a really good friend, we've gotten close these past months, that's all._ Pyrrha knew that this train of thought, which had been plaguing her since before the exposition, wouldn't go away until she was true to herself.

Making up her mind to talk to Jaune about it later, ( _maybe in a week or so_ ), Pyrrha and Nora followed everyone else out of the room to the airpads.

…

 **Yang Xiao Long  
**

Jaune and Yang were on Yang's bike, driving through the city, the sky reddening as the sun for lower.

Yang had a mixed reaction about the plan. On one hand, she would be doing what she enjoyed doing: going to a club and scaring people.

On the other hand, the particular location that they had decided on going to was Junior's club. The last time she had gone there, a mysterious stranger had fought her, eventually ending the match in a draw. He had also given her worldview quite a shake which had made her associate the club with bad feelings.

She took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts. Unlike last time, she was here with someone else, and the thought comforted her. Jaune was a good friend to Ruby, and by extension, to Yang. She knew he cared deeply about everyone around him and that he would have her back.

Enjoying the drive, the two made small talk as they approached Junior's club. Turning the corner, they paused, startled. The street still hadn't been repaired after the fight, the warehouse still had no front, the pile of rubble still lying there.

They looked at each other and winced.

"What the hell happened here? That warehouse is absolutely wrecked!" Jaune exclaimed.

Yang tried to look as innocent as possible. "Yeah, I don't know. Let's get to Junior's club."

 _Damn it Yang, you need to work on your lying!_

She parked the bike outside the club, pocketing the keys.

Jaune said nothing, following her to the club. They registered their scrolls, the bouncer mumbling something into his mic when he scanned Yang's.

"They know you?" Jaune asked curiously, walking into the heat and noise of the club.

"I guess you could say that. Got in a little fight last time. Nothing big." Yang strode confidently to the bar and sat down, Jaune doing the same to her left.

"Aren't we just a wee bit young to be drinking?"

 _Oh Jaune, you're so innocent._

"This is Junior's club, no one cares here. Just relax and enjoy. And bartender, a Strawberry Sunrise, no ice. And for him…" She turned to Jaune.

"Just water, thanks. Oh! And if you could call Junior, that would be lovely."

The bartender was startled at the sudden request for Junior, but complied, nodding at a guard as he made Yang's drink.

"That was quite sudden, you didn't want to have some fun?" Yang questioned in a playful tone, motioning towards the floor.

"I'd love to, but I think people would get jealous of you," Jaune said, a cheeky grin on his face.

 _Wait hold the goddamn phone, back up your horses, stop killing Grimm, what did he just say? That was almost what that stranger had said, before our fight!_

Jaune saw the look on her face and must have misunderstood it. "Sorry! I didn't mean to insult you! Please don't be mad!"

 _No, there's no way this guy can be the guy I fought. The only similarities are that phrase and that they both use a sword._

"None taken. Now, you wanna dance or what?" Yang moved to get off her stool, drink in hand, but Jaune stopped her.

"Junior's here, mission first, dance later."

"Fine." Yang grumbled.

Junior looked much the same as before.

"What do you want blondie? Last time you got beat pretty hard, why'd you come back?" The message in the gruff voice was clear: she was not welcome.

"Oh Junior, I just wanted to get some information." Yang took a sip of her drink, still looking at the tall man.

"Well, I'm gonna say no. Do you even have one reason why I should tell you?" Junior sneered.

"Um, probably because you most likely don't have the guy who beat Yang hanging about right now?" Jaune entered the conversation.

Junior's eyebrows rose. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess. And I see I was right, eh?" Jaune smiled.

"I…um…fine. What do you want? No touching me though."

"If you say so Junior, not many people would say that to someone like Yang." Jaune commented off-handedly, taking a sip of water.

 _Not bad, Jauney boy, not bad indeed._

"Real funny kid, you wouldn't be joking if you knew what she did last time."

"Yang, that's a story that you need to tell me later."

"Sure, it's pretty funny." Yang turned back to Junior. "Now Junior, we want to know your connection to Roman Torchwick."

Junior blinked in surprise. "Why does everyone want Torchwick?" He muttered,

Speaking louder, he said, "I don't know anything about Torchwick's anything. He comes in here a couple times, hires men, and leaves. Half the time they come back injured, but that's what they get paid for. I don't know what he does with them, and I'm not going to ask. He also hasn't come in here for 3 months, so I don't even have the remotest clue about his plans."

Yang leaned over to Jaune and whispered, "You think he's lying?"

"Nope" came the equally quiet reply. "He really has no idea."

Jaune got up. "Thank you Junior, I think we had a civilized conversation. Yang?" He started towards the dance floor.

Yang got up, finishing her drink. She was about to turn around and follow when her scroll rang.

 _Blake Belladonna_ , the scroll displayed.

"Hey there Blakey. Aren't you supposed to be getting recruited right now?"

"Yang, there's no time to chat. I'm currently running along the Highway 3, Torchwick is in giant mech behind me, Ren got knocked out a bit ago, you need to get here fast!" Blake's voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of crashes and horns behind her.

"Alright, we'll get there ASAP. See you soon." Yang pocketed her scroll and grabbed Jaune's arm, dragging him towards the door.

"Hey, easy there Yang, people might talk." Jaune's grin faded as he saw the serious and worried expression on her face. "Sorry, what happened?"

"Ren got knocked out by a large mech controlled by Torchwick which is now chasing Blake down Highway 3." Yang explained, Jaune settling in behind her.

"Yikes. Alright, let's get going, they shouldn't be too hard to find."

Yang didn't say anything, the sudden acceleration of her bike showing her intent to 'get going'.

 **Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune knew dangerous Torchwick was at what he did, taking down Blake, one of the best Huntresses in her year, along with the monkey faunus, Sun. Blake had explained that he was selected to represent Shade, the Vacuan Hunter academy.

To make matters worse, Torchwick was now in a mech, and they were down one member. Ren was not an easy guy to take on, but Jaune was sure the mech's armor and hard punches were quite effective.

Yang pulled onto the freeway, Juane barely managing to stay on the bike as she swerved between cars.

"There! I see Blake!" Jaune saw her sprinting her way in their direction, hopping from car to car.

"Where's the me- Oh never mind, found it." Yang's voice was almost impossible to hear over the wind.

As they got closer to Blake, a giant bipedal mech with the White Fang's red and white clawed wolf symbol visible on the side.

 _Where does that man get this stuff? I mean that thing is one of Atlas' prototypes, going by the targeting modules on the body. I need to ask him sometime._

Yang pulled over to the shoulder, between two street lights. Jaune checked his scroll, seeing the missing members of their little squad moving their way towards their location. They would be arriving her after the mech reached them. Great.

Blake ran up, panting. "Torchwick…recognized me…ran out of there…"

"Blake, tell us all this later," Jaune interrupted. "Tell us all this later, Torchwick's almost here.

It was lucky this was a less used road, as Jaune had no doubts Torchwick wouldn't abstain from stomping on civilian cars as they drove by.

He pulled his sword out, loading the railgun and taking careful aim. The mech was moving fast, but in a straight line towards them. He would only have time for one shot before the mech got too close to have any semblance of aim.

He charged, the sword vibrating slightly as the magnets turned inside the length. Feeling the click, he let go of the trigger, the signature yellow flame billowing out from around the projectile as the air superheated.

The projectile struck the mech's extended right arm, partially severing half the length. It still was usable as a club, but the 40mm launcher installed on it wouldn't work.

 _Better than nothing, I guess._

He turned to Blake and Yang. "Blake, run distractions, use your clones. Yang, dance around it, try to get it to react to your punches, go at it from every direction. I'll try to slip it up using Dust. On my mark, 3, 2, 1, GO!"

Jaune dodged out of the way as machine gun fire ripped up the concrete they had been standing on, along with one of Blake's clones. Yang had launched herself forwards, dodging the deadly hail of fire as best as she could. Jaune took out a smoke grenade, something he hoped would addle the sensors for a few seconds while the computer adjusted.

He threw the sphere, smoke already billowing out. It bonked off the top of the mech, coming to rest in one of the crannies on top of the mech. Smoke billowed down around where the cockpit was, making it look like it was having a bad, smoky hair day.

Yang ran up to the mech, gauntlets firing, the flashes illuminating the smoke from the inside silhouetting the mech in an eerie fashion.

The mech flailed around madly for a few seconds, trying to ward off the attacker before its sensors adjusted to the darkened surroundings.

"Yang, move!" Yang didn't need to be told twice, flipping backwards over and over again trying to dodge the advancing machine gun fire.

"Blake, the arm!" Blake seemingly dropped out of the sky, cleaver portion of her weapon snapping forwards on a ribbon, attaching to the hole in the arm. She pulled it towards her, the shriek of metal echoing.

The mech turned its bulk towards the new threat, and Jaune launched himself forward. He had been messaging his advancing friends, explaining their roles. Now it was time to put the plan into action.

He landed on the mech's back, the jump easy thanks to aura. He leaned forwards, smashing one of the mech's targeting laser modules. There were 6 more scattered around the body, 2 on the arms and 4 on the torso.

He held on as the mech twisted and turned, trying to throw him off. It leaned back and then swung its bulk forwards, surprising Jaune and loosening his grip. A metal armed moved up and grabbed the desperately scrabbling boy, bringing it to face the cockpit.

"Are you that Jaune boy everyone's been going on about? You don't seem that smart in combat! I mean, come on, jumping on a mech during a battle, all to get to the module? There are easier ways of destroying it you know."

 _And I thought he seemed arrogant and condescending before._

"Torchwick right? Pleased to meet you. As for your question, well, I don't know man. You seem awfully confident in my inability to plan. What makes you think I _didn't_ want to be taken off your back? It's not the best place to be, no offense." He pulled out a small detonator from his sleeve, holding it up.

"Surprise!"

The mech's body rocked forwards as a small explosion rippled across the mech's back. The grip loosened and dropped Jaune as the mech stumbled away from the force on center mass, what Torchwick thought was an explosive.

In reality, he had told Ruby to use one of her explosive rounds to hit the mech as soon as she saw the signal, which was him holding up a detonator. She had immediately sent back question marks but Jaune knew she would carry the plan out.

The round hadn't done more than dent the armor and stumble the mech, but it was enough.

Jaune ran back up to the mech. This time on the ruined arm, bracing himself on the hole his railgun had created. He looked at the wires trailing from the hole, and touched his sword to them, completing a loop to something vital.

The arm swung and he before he let go, he activated a Shock crystal, pouring aura into it to produce as much current as he could. He went flying through the air the next instance, landing near the edge of the road.

He watched as several things popped inside the arm in quick succession, leaving the arm hanging as deadweight. The engineers had been smart enough to add in fail safes and fuses in between the arm and the body's main circuit, which as unfortunate. Disabling the entire mech in one move would've been cool.

The mech shot its machine gun at him, and Jaune put up a Barrier as he sprinted towards where Ruby had shot from. He dived off the road and rolled down the small slope, out of sight of the mech. He knew Yang and Blake would keep it distracted.

Ruby ran up to him, Crescent Rose unfurled. "Jaune! You okay?! It looked like you got hit with all those bullets! How bad is your aura?"

He laughed slightly. "Your concern is touching, but come on Ruby, did you forget I have these handy dandy Barrier crystals? They may sap my aura, but it's better than getting hit with those rounds."

Ruby sighed in relief, then instantly went to leader mode as she heard Blake cry out.

"We need to go help them! Weiss should be here soon; I ran as hard as I could to get here. I talked to Nora and Pyrrha, they're going to get Ren to safety and then head here. Do you have a plan?"

Jaune was impressed by this sudden change in Ruby's mentality. Ozpin had been right to appoint her as leader. "Yeah, I do. You stay back, take potshots at him. Conserve the explosive rounds, you only had three left if I remember correctly.

When Weiss gets here, tell her to throw ice at the mech's joints. If anything gets too dicey, use White Rose, as we discussed earlier, on my signal. Good? Alright, I'll go tell Blake and Yang their role."

White Rose was one of the attacks Ruby and Jaune had come up with during one of their "super special leader only meetings" as Ruby liked to call them. It consisted of Weiss using her glyphs to interact with the Dust in Ruby's rounds, empowering them with whichever element of Dust Weiss used.

Blake and Yang had drawn the mech slightly away from Ruby's location, and Jaune was happy they had the foresight to know to do that. He ran forwards, legs pounding the pavement as he ran towards the exposed back of the mech, pulling things out of his pouches.

 **Yang Xiao Long  
**

The battle turned into a blur of noise to Yang as she continued to dodge the machine gun fire that exploded everything around her. The only reason she was not included in the 'Got Shot by Stupid Terrorist Driving a Mech' club were her reflexes, honed from fighting against ranged fighters.

She jumped and dodged, diving out of the way of bullets that cratered the ground. Blake kept distracting the mech in bursts, her cleaver finding small holds in the body of the torso, pulling it off balance. On one such occasion, Yang had managed to shoot a targeting module of the mech's left side, destroying it.

Jaune had run off away from the road after being thrown by the mech. Whatever he had done, the mech's left arm was completely useless, including the targeting module, which had brought the total count down to 4.

She kept punching the mech, alternating damage windows with Blake, attacking from every angle. The tactic had seemed to be working, with no idea about the location of the next attack, the mech had been forced to go on the defensive.

 _Jaune, where the_ hell _did you run off to?_ she yelled mentally.

 **Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune had been planning on something stupid. He rigged together small shaped charges that would detonate into the joints on the mech's torso.

He would have to have time to plant them all, and signaled to Ruby to begin her fire. Jaune slipped under the mech as it turned around to block the sniper fire.

He activated the Gravity Dust that he had stored in the soles of his shoes and jumped onto the mech's back, careful not to alert Torchwick of his presence. The Dust would significantly lower Jaune's weight, but Jaune could also feel the drain on his aura as he used the crystal.

Holding on tight, he set the charges haphazardly, with only some managing to go where they were supposed to. Blake and Yang had stopped the mech from moving to Ruby's position, which had worsened Jaune's position. The mech now swung every which way, reacting to the black and yellow duo's attacks.

 _Dammit guys, not helping!_

He finally had used all his charges. They were all over the place, but they would do their job weakening the mech's joints.

He set the timer for 15 seconds and jumped off, deactivating the gravity dust once his legs were on terra firma.

"Yang, Blake, retreat far away NOW!" Jaune yelled, running away from the mech. The two followed without question. The mech watched them retreat in slight surprise before its machine gun arm raised up, no doubt to rain a river of rain of them.

But alas, it would not be so. Another explosion rocked the mech, this time much bigger. The mech was driven to its knees, hands on the ground.

 _Suck on that Torchwick, you orange haired little toad!_ Jaune crowed mentally.

Externally, he just activated Ice Dust, freezing the mech's hands to the ground in an ice block. It wouldn't be much to hold him in place, but it would be enough.

He waved his sword in the air, activating his Scorch Dust. He hoped Ruby had understood what he was trying to say.

 ***CRACK***

The sound of the explosive round being fired echoed off the nearby hills, followed by smaller shots. An explosion rippled across the mech's back for the third time, causing it to face plant onto the road, each successive shot crumpling the armor.

Smoke rose from the ruined back, but Jaune didn't have time to admire the view as he suddenly staggered backwards, enveloped in rose petals.

"JAUNE, IT WORKED! YOUR PLAN WORKED JAUNE! WE BEAT HIM!" Ruby was latched onto his neck, yelling into his ear in joy. He disentangled himself, breathing in deeply.

"It was all thanks to you guys! Wouldn't have been able to do it without your help. Blake, Yang, you guys were fantastic at distracting him. Ruby, terrific shooting. Weiss, you pulled off White Rose perfectly. And me, well, I always do everything right."

Yang punched him in the arm and everyone laughed, the mech momentarily forgotten in the rush of victory.

"Wow, you guys really did a number on him." Pyrrha's voice caused them all to look up. "Guess I missed all the fun."

"Would you rather I save him for you Pyrrha? Next time I'm faced with a murderous terrorist, I'll keep that in mind." Jaune quipped, drawing laughs from everyone, including Pyrrha. "By that way, where's Nora and Ren?"

"She took him to Beacon, his aura was exhausted. Nothing too major thankfully, he should be fine tomorrow." Pyrrha reassured Jaune, her trademark smile on her face.

Jaune was about to say something when an explosion caught her in the back, tossing her over them tumbling in the air.

Everyone gaped. They had never seen Pyrrha ever get hit that hard! Who had shot her?

"Oh did I interrupt something? My bad really. I would be sorry if, you know, some emo do-gooder hadn't interrupted my little speech to the White Fang, we wouldn't be having this talk."

Jaune whipped his head around to ensure Pyrrha was alright. She got up to her feet and gave him a small smile. He smiled back, his smile fading as he looked at Torchwick.

"What do you want? You could've escaped when you had the chance. Why wait?" Jaune stepped forward, Barrier dust at the ready.

"For you, Mr. Genius. My boss wants to meet you, and when she wants something, she gets it."

"And what if I say no?" Jaune already knew Torchwick wouldn't be so nonchalant if he didn't have a backup.

"Oh? Then I'll have to either incapacitate or kill every single of your friends. That wouldn't be pleasant for your though." Torchwick sneered at him, victory in every feature.

"Yeah? You and what army? We're 6 here, you're only one. At some point, numbers matter. Or are you too dumb to count to 6? That's what happened, didn't it?" Jaune grinned at Torchwick, trying to get him mad.

"Well, if I can't count to 6, then you can't count to 2. Which one is the really dummy here?" Torchwick's smug smile grew even wider, his eyes flicking behind Jaune.

Jaune turned, loath to turn away from Torchwick, but knowing he had to see what was behind him.

It was Neo. Holding Weiss at sword point, the blade pressing painfully into the pale neck.

"Don't bother doing anything rash any of you. Neo's blade is quicker than all of you, even you little Red. So know I want your decision Jaune. Your friend's lives, or your cooperation? Which will it be?"

 _Son of a goddamn stupid lunatic turd faced criminal scum!_ Jaune added in more colorful expletives about Torchwick, ranging from his parentage to places on Torchwick where Jaune wished he could personally shove the criminal's cane up.

"Fine. You got me. I'll come." Jaune spat out, contempt and hate in every fiber of his body.

"Jaune no! Don't do it!" Pyrrha yelled out.

"Come on Pyrrha, you know there is no other option." Jaune forced a smile past the anger. "And besides, I'll be fine! Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."

He walked towards Torchwick and stood next to him, staring back at all his friends apologetically. Neo loosened her hold on Weiss's neck and walked over to the two of them. She bowed gracefully, mismatched pink and brown eyes twinkling maliciously.

With a sound like breaking glass, the world turned black as Jaune wondered what exactly he had just got himself into.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	11. Jailbreak

**Jaune Arc**

 **Current Time**

Jaune seethed as he sat in his seat on the Bullhead, arms crossed. He stared at Torchwick, the man looking smug and content as he lay back and stared out of the window.

Jaune knew that he had messed up in a major way. After Ruby had taken down the mech, he shouldn't have taken his eyes off the wreck. Keeping an eye on the hulking mass of metal would've prevented the stupid situation he was in.

Torchwick had threatened to kill Weiss so nonchalantly, Jaune knew that there was nothing he could do to stop Neo from actually slicing Weiss's throat. Jaune had gone with him, knowing the only way to get out of the situation was to go with the criminal.

Jaune glanced out of the window. The Bullhead had been flying for a while now, definitely out of the city proper, heading to the edges of the 'Safe Zone', the area that the kingdom kept safe from Grimm attacks. Anything outside the Zone was considered a free-for-all.

Their destination was most likely a White Fang base, which confused Jaune. Why would Cinder set up in a White Fang base? She was perfectly fine in Vale, there was no reason to go out of the city.

Jaune closed his eyes, reviewing his options once more. Torchwick hadn't searched him, apparently not considering him any threat. He had used some of the Dust in his sword during the battle, but he still had most of it remaining.

He had his Gravity laces boots half full, and his aura was at 86% and slowly climbing. He had his HUD eye implants on, though without the helmet they would be useless in the dark.

He had his pouches still practically full, only having used the smoke grenade and the shaped explosives during the fight.

He took comfort in the fact that if it came to a fight, he would not be going out without giving it his maximum effort.

Jaune sighed. Why was he so caught up in the thought that everything would take a turn for the worse? Maybe all Cinder wanted to do was force him to work for her. He could figure out a way to get free after he got some hands on some materials.

He took a deep breath.

 _No need stressing about the future, Jaune. You have no info about anything that's going to happen. Just relax, that's it. Breath in, breath out. You can do this, just wing it. She won't kill you on purpose. Hopefully._

He went into his meditative trance staring at the gray wall in front of him, trying to think of solutions to this problem.

…

It was sometime later when Torchwick moved. Jaune snapped out of his trance and looked at the man. Torchwick was definitely more nervous now, his legs rigid as he stood straight. His slightly bored expression looked forced.

"So we're landing soon?" Jaune spoke for the first time since the ride had begun.

Torchwick merely nodded. "Figured that out all on your own, did you?"

Jaune just sighed. "Torchwick, the insults about each other's intelligence got stale even during the first exchange. I haven't even talked to you and I'm already bored, that says something."

If it had been a Promethean saying that, Torchwick would have just grit his teeth or come back with a reply. In this case however, Torchwick merely grinned and ignored him.

The craft started decelerating, coming to a halt. The engines outside turned to face downwards and the craft hovered down onto the airpad outside a large building.

"Torchwick, where are we? Who are we going to meet?" Jaune asked the man beside him.

The Bullhead's door opened and the craft powered down.

Stepping out, Torchwick waved his hand. "Oh merely one of the most dangerous people in the White Fang, that's all."

Jaune didn't even react. He knew exactly who Cinder was, and that she was indeed quite dangerous.

"Oh? Should I bow and scrape in front of her? 'Oh please don't hurt me, I'll do anything!'? That doesn't sound very fun."

Torchwick merely laughed. "I'll let you handle her. She can be quite intimidating. Don't lose your head around her though, or you literally will lose your head."

Jaune frowned. That didn't sound like what Cinder would do. She would leave the killing to her minions, thinking herself above her enemies.

"And if you have the slightest plan of trying to fight your way out, you might as well just kill yourself right now, save us all the trouble."

Jaune winced. He knew that resistance was futile as they said, but hearing Torchwick declare it drove the nail in that idea's coffin.

White Fang grunts surrounded the three of them (Neo had followed them), driving forklifts, stacking crates, and eyeing him.

Jaune ignored them all and faced forwards, towards the building they were heading into.

It was large and rectangular, industrial looking. It was painted gray and had a few windows here and there, where Jaune presumed the officers stayed.

Sentry guns were situated on top of the building, with a few of what looked like anti-air turrets on the corners.

 _Damn, Atlas must be getting pissed at their thefts. This is quite an arsenal._

Torchwick led him through the doors in the front of the building, into the hallways. They were lit with ceiling lights that gave just enough light to see by.

There were metal doors every twenty feet and they looked thick. There was an elevator at the end of the hall, themed just like the rest of the place: metal. They rose up the four stories, the only sound being the whirring of the elevator.

Jaune had never seen Torchwick so quiet before and it unnerved him. It almost felt like he was afraid of the act of talking, as if it would get him in trouble.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to reveal a hallway similar to the one they had left, but with only a few doors on either side. Torchwick opened one of them, waving Jaune in. As soon as Jaune was in the doorway, Torchwick pushed him in and slammed the door shut, leaving him in pitch darkness.

Jaune rooted around in his pouch, feeling around for his night vision goggles. He felt the familiar shape besides a jumble of others and slotted them onto his eyes.

The world went a shade of green, showing a table and two chairs in the room. Lines traced over the edges of everything in the room. The goggles didn't give him any depth perception, and so he had implemented this feature in the software to help nullify that drawback.

He took a seat, looking at the door. The dark room was obviously supposed to unnerve him, and he wasn't going to let that happen.

He pulled out his scroll, confirming that he was indeed out of range of the city's CCT network. He would have to go and register his scroll to the local network to be able to see his location or call anyone. He turned it off and put it away. It was no use to him.

He sat in silence, twiddling his thumbs. Minutes passed, but Jaune sat in silence, glancing around the room slightly.

Jaune was ready to just relax and sleep when a bright light flashed through the room. The sudden light overloaded his goggles slightly. He winced as his eyes adjusted to the flare of light, and then to the dark green screen of the goggles.

A tall woman stood on the other side of the table. She had a large Grimm mask on, slightly similar to the White Fang's, covered in red markings but with four glowing eye slits.

Her hand was on a sword at her side, but she appeared to be quite relaxed. She had something that looked like large feathers hanging from the right side of her skirt.

She stood there, staring at him.

"Jaune Arc." The voice was commanding, while still containing slight amounts of mirth hidden deep. It reminded Jaune of Yang's voice, but this trace of humor didn't feel like she was teasing you; it felt like she was going to find killing you funny.

"That's me. So I'm going to assume you can see in the dark?"

"Yes, I can, and I know you can too." She said.

"How'd you know that?" Jaune was surprised, not many people had seen him use the goggles in Beacon, and the Prometheans used an entirely different design aesthetically.

"I have many sources Jaune. Ever since initiation, I have kept an eye on you. You seemed like an interesting character. An explosion and near-death experience within the first couple of hours of the initiation? It even showed my own performance up." The woman was still standing perfectly still, the four eyes glaring at him menacingly.

"And what spurred this little meeting? And if you knew I had night vision why the dark room?" Jaune had taken note of her mention of being a Beacon attendee, deciding to investigate later.

"I was not the person meant to be talking to you here. This is simply an interrogation room and you were slated to be held here until you grew desperate. Then they would try to convince you to join them. I've been told their methods are quite effective."

There was no change in her tone as she stated this, as if talking about mind-breaking torture was something that happened every day.

"So why did you come here? I don't think it was from the goodness of your heart, no offense. I think you want something from me. What is it?" Jaune leaned back in his chair. He wanted to know who she was affiliated to and what her goals were.

"Straight to the point, interesting. Well, to answer your question Jaune, I believe you already know why I'm here. I want to make a deal with you."

 _Everyone in this world wants to make deals! Can no one ask for favors or threaten me? That would be a welcome break at least._

"If you want to make a deal with me, I would advise against it. The Prometheans already have made a deal with me, one that is quite lucrative. If I was you, I would try to avoid having their attention on me." Jaune knew that in his current situation, no Promethean would come to rescue him, for obvious reasons. He couldn't get a message out and Alfred wouldn't be able to locate him.

"The Prometheans? Don't make me laugh. Cinder and Roman may believe them to be powerful, but I have a different opinion on them." She started moving around the table, towering over Jaune in his chair. "Answer this: When was the last time you say more than one out in the world?"

Jaune's eyes widened unconsciously. If she was suggesting what he thought she was, the game had more than changed, it had been completely upended.

"How do you know only one of them is operating at any time?" Jaune shot back.

"Jaune, I told you, I know the movements of their operatives. And you know where they lead? Straight to Beacon, always before dawn. Now to me, that seems highly suspicious Jaune." She was standing right over him now, her imposing mask staring down at him.

"What are you getting at?" Jaune was actually getting scared now. How did she figure out one of his closest secrets? How had she been following him? He had made sure there was no one following him at any time, and had taken meandering routes through the city to throw anyone off.

"You know what I'm getting at Jaune. Or should I call you Prometheus?" The woman glared down at him, her mask's eyes growing even more menacing.

 _Get a grip Jaune! You still don't know what she wants!_

"First of all, just Jaune is fine, since that's who I am. Not sure about Prometheus though, that doesn't sound like me. Second of all, you're really up in my space, so if you could just scoot back juuust a bit, that would be grand. Thirdly, you still haven't answered my question. What do you want from me?" Jaune kept a cool gaze on her mask as he said this. He didn't want to show any weakness to her.

"So I take it you don't know who I am? If you did, you would be talking to me in that manner." Her tone grew a touch colder, her grip on her sword tightening.

"Answer my first question first. I don't care who you are. I want to know what you want from me. Your identity can come later." Jaune feigned ignorance of the telltale signs of her anger.

She was silent for a bit, staring at him. He stared back, not backing down from the unblinking red orbs in her mask.

"You want to know why I want to deal with you? Fine. Let's go." She turned away from him. Something in her sheath turned and she drew her sword. The same bright light as before flooded the room, but this time Jaune had enough time to let his eyes adjust.

Taking his goggles off, he looked at the cause of the light. A swirling circle of red and black light, parallel to the wall, 8 feet in diameter.

"So I take it that's how you got in? Some sort of portal?"

She simply nodded and stepped through. Jaune stood for a moment, gazing at the portal, his mind a year back in time.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **A Year Ago**

He was walking down a bright hallway, a laptop in his hand. He was reviewing the recent test data from their experiments.

He walked up to a door in the hallway and pushed it open, walking into a large room. There were three other people in the room discussing something in a corner, surrounded by tables with piles of papers on them.

Most of the space in the room was taken up by a large machine in the middle of the room. Thick rubber insulated wires worked their way across the brightly lit room to connect into the machine, feeding it power.

The machine itself was square shaped, like a doorway. It was covered with lights, each indicating a certain critical component's condition; red was bad, green was good. Simple stuff. The machine's body was painted a special shade of gray, to ensure a maximum ratio of heat given off to heat received.

It was made of a thick metal alloy that they had specially made up in the lab to be both dense and close to an ideal blackbody. The machine would be handling lots of energy over short periods of time, and they had to make sure that any excess heat generated would be dissipated as fast as possible.

The insides of the machine had been cooled to within 130 degrees Kelvin by the use of liquid nitrogen, giving the wires inside the property of superconductivity, which ensured no heat would be generated in the wires as long as the low temperature was maintained.

Jaune carefully made his way around the tables, careful not to disturb any of the piles.

"Dr. Kramer? I have the report from our last batch of experiments ready. Would you like to see them?" Jaune plugged in his laptop into the projector, pulling up the data, knowing Kramer would say yes.

"Why yes indeed Arc. You really are fast with these things, glad we selected you!" Kramer was a thin, balding researcher that had been working at this lab for the past 20 years. He was a very impassionate man, and would both berate and compliment Jaune with equal gusto.

The selection he was talking about had been a competition of sorts mixed with a science fair. The best participants would go on to research teams that were doing experiments on the cutting edge of modern knowledge.

Jaune himself had been selected, along with another boy, by this team to work on a so called "Long Range Tunneling Effects in Exotic Materials" group. The 'exotic material' had interested him, and he had soon found out exactly what it was.

What the material that they had dubbed "teleporonium" (Scientists aren't always a creative bunch) did was let particles that passed through it exhibit Quantum Tunneling effects at much larger distances than had previously been seen.

By passing specific currents across the material at certain temperatures, the effects would be exaggerated at different levels, leading to tunneling on the scale of millimeters, or even centimeters, depending on the amount of the material and the energy passing through it.

So far, they had been successful in sending small particles such as electrons and protons through thin sheets of the material.

The experiments were expensive, but each one furthered their understanding of this effect immensely. This research would provide the understanding necessary to develop quantum computer chips, and open the road for many technologies down the road.

Jaune presented the report to the team, Dr. Kramer, Dr. Schulz, and the second candidate, Jason Smith. Jaune hadn't really interacted with Jason or Dr. Schulz much, since the two worked in a separate section of the lab generally.

From what he had learned about them, they were as passionate for their work as Dr. Kramer, but were more laid back.

Finishing up the report, Jaune discussed the results with the three, and waited while the two project leads discussed amongst each other.

The report had been surprising for the entire team. It suggested that if they doubled the maximum power they had tested so far for a short amount of time, then alternated tripling and halving it, they could be able to make particles tunnel through about 20 cm of the material!

For a month they worked on making the power source and machine capable of handling the power they would be pumping. After making all of the arrangements, the day had finally come.

They were gathered inside a room that was off the actual room. They were protected by 2 feet of lead and concrete and were completely isolated from the room. Cameras were attached throughout the room monitoring the machine in all sorts of wavelengths, looking for erratic spikes of energy.

They turned on the supply to the machine, watching the power meter go up, the capacitors charging as they gathered to release a burst of power.

After about five minutes, the machine was ready to be activated.

"All systems looking good?" Dr. Kramer said into a mic.

"Everything is nominal." Came the reply from another booth where all the engineers were.

"Jaune, Jason, instrumentations good?" He looked at them.

"Yes sir, we are good for activation." Jaune replied, tapping keys on his keyboard, bringing up graphs generated as data flowed in.

"Then let's get this party started!" Kramer activated the machine and the three crowded around a monitor to view the latest experiment. Jaune abstained to keep an eye on the data.

"Uh Dr. Kramer? Dr. Schulz? We might have a problem. The instruments are reading no change so far compared to before the activation, except for the temperature. It has risen to be about the level expected of an energy leak. The machine seems to have dissipated all of the heat, and is just sitting there."

Dr. Schulz made a face. "Wonderful. Any idea what may have caused this? Perhaps an error in the machine itself? A calculation error?"

Jason shook his head. "Everything seemed to check out before the experiment, though there is one thing that could be the issue here. We did not test the material under very high temperatures. It is possible it changes its properties after a specific critical temperature that we accidently crossed."

 _Jason, you clever little boy you._

Dr. Kramer clapped his hands together. "Well then in that case, you two can check it out! Nothing like getting your underlings to go into dangerous positions eh?" He added a little chuckle at the end, even though everyone present knew he was joking.

Jason and Jaune just shook their heads and headed out. The sensors indicated that everything was the same as it had been before the activation, so they didn't both to put on hazard suits. Besides, they were on the opposite side of the lab and they were too lazy.

Jaune however did take his backpack of tools on the way into the lab. It contained all his own personal tools, along with other things he deemed important. A change of clothes, and some other things needed in case he had to stay late. Most people questioned keeping clothes and mechanical tools in one place, but Jaune valued utility more than aesthetic.

They stepped into the room to review everything and check to make sure all the instrumentation was working as intended. Jaune went around checking all the recording equipment while Jason took a look at the machine itself.

Engineers would be coming over soon to fix anything that had malfunctioned, but they were busy putting on their hazmat suits.

"Hey Jaune, could you take a look at this? This thing is giving off readings." Jason called over, holding a multimeter up to a component in the side of the machine, nothing critical.

Jaune walked over, taking a look at the component. The readings were consistent with they expected the component to read after the machine had run successfully.

They looked at each other and then at the machine. Jason opened up the machine to take a look at the material itself, see if any damage had occurred. The coolant system was shut down while the machine was not operating, so Jason just opened the hatch that was used to install the material in the machine.

The material lay glimmering black with streaks of red, apparently unchanged. Jason turned to Jaune to say something but he suddenly stopped, his eyes going wide.

He reached up to his chest and gasped in shock as a rib burst from his chest, blood leaking from the wound.

Jaune couldn't move as he stared at Jason's chest. Jason grasped at the rib as it tore itself out and flew at the metal, passing straight through.

"THE MACHINE'S STILL ACTIVE!" Jaune knew that sound wouldn't be able to escape from the chamber, but he hoped someone could read his lips.

Jason continued to gasp for air, mouth filling with blood. Jaune turned away from the sight, ignoring the squelches as he tried to find a way to shut everything down and drain any power residue that may have built up.

A wet crunch echoed through the room and Jaune turned to see Jason's body crumple to the ground, spine snapped. Jaune stared wide eyed, wondering why he wasn't affected by the material.

A pen flew from Jason's now broken fingers and flew into the material. Jaune came to his senses and rushed to the machine, desperate to close the hatch before anything worse could happen. Jaune could still hear Jason's labored breathing and knew that he still had a chance at surviving.

He reached for the hatch door, small objects now starting to hurtle past him into the machine. He managed to reach the door when something large struck him in the back. It was Jason's body.

Jaune cried out as he stumbled into the machine, losing his balance. He instinctively brought his hand down onto the material and felt a tingling sensation for a second, as if he was being shrunk and expanded, heated and cooled, twisted and stretched and the same time. The next second he was lying in a forest with naught but his backpack.

…

Jaune shook himself from his reverie and gazed at the portal the woman had put up. It was eerily similar in color to the material that had crippled Jason and left him here in Remnant.

Looking at the dark room around himself, he steeled himself and stepped in.

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

 **Hours Earlier**

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha cried as the Bullhead flew away. She had kept silent for the whole time Jaune had been getting on, and had even waved back as the door closed, but she couldn't help it when the Bullhead flew away.

It was all her fault, if she hadn't distracted them, they may have noticed Torchwick. If she had noticed the shot, it wouldn't have hit her and wouldn't have allowed the pink and brown haired girl to sneak up on Weiss.

She blinked the tears away. There was no way she was just going to let Jaune be taken away just like that. She was going to hunt him down, and make Torchwick pay for kidnapping him. Who knows what Jaune would go through if he didn't cooperate?

 _They better not hurt him, or I swear I will…_

"Um…Pyrrha?" Ruby's timid voice broke into her world of anger. The young leader of RWBY was looking at her nervously. "You've got a scary look on your face, are you okay?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, getting a control over her thoughts. She tried to small reassuringly, but all she could muster was something weak that wouldn't convince a baby.

"I'm fine Ruby, just worried about Jaune."

"Pyrrha, I know you are worried about him, but there is nothing we can do just standing here. We need to head back to Beacon and report to Ozpin. He'll know what to do." Blake calmly suggested, any trace of emotion scrubbed from her voice.

Pyrrha could see the logic in the statement and let out a long breath. She looked up. "Yeah, you guys are right, you are all probably tired. How are we going to get back?"

"I called in an extraction shuttle after Torchwick shot you." Yang's speech was controlled, but her red eyes gave away her true anger.

Pyrrha merely nodded and sat down on a chunk of asphalt that had been ripped from the ground in the battle, putting her head in her hands. Ruby came and sat beside her, nervously poking her fingers together.

"Pyrrha? Please talk to me. I know you're really feeling horrible about what happened, but it's not your fault! If anything, it's my fault for distracting Jaune after the mech went down. If I had waited a little, then we could've seen Torchwick climb out, and this all could be avoided and we could be at Beacon all safe and…" Ruby's rambling came to a halt as Ruby stared at the ground, her face full of sorrow.

Pyrrha turned her head to look at Ruby, seeing the normally cheerful girl on the verge of tears, then jerked her head upwards to see Weiss standing in front of them, an angry look on her face.

"You two need to stop moping about. Blaming yourselves about Jaune's situation isn't going to help anyone, it's only going to hinder us." Weiss's voice was cold and forceful. "Ruby, you dolt, we should have all been paying attention. There is no one to blame for that, so stop blaming yourself. You are our leader, and you need to be strong for all of us."

Ruby stared at Weiss, surprise in her eyes, but Weiss had already turned her blue eyes to Pyrrha's green.

"And you, Pyrrha. The same goes to you. Jaune may be your partner and your best friend, but he was also a good friend to the rest of us. Don't mope around, it's not becoming of you. Now that Jaune was unfortunately taken away, you are the de facto leader. What I said to Ruby goes for you too."

Pyrrha knew Weiss was right, but actually doing what was being asked of her was next to impossible. How could she just put Jaune's situation out of her mind?

Her thoughts must have escaped into her expression. Weiss's expression softened and her words were more comforting, an odd thing coming from 'The Ice Queen'.

"Pyrrha, look. We all are torn up about this, but as has been said before, there is no point in feeling bad for yourself. What we need to do is go to Ozpin and explain the situation to him. He will definitely help find Jaune, and then we can take our anger out during the search. But for now, we need to keep a level head. Jaune said he will be fine, and he doesn't say many things without meaning them."

Pyrrha merely nodded, her anger draining away with each word Weiss said. Satisfied, Weiss stepped away and moved back to her Blake and Yang, taking Ruby with her.

Pyrrha looked into the distance where she thought she could still make out the Bullhead.

 _Jaune, I hope you're right, and you do come back safe._

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Present Time**

Jaune felt the same feeling as he had when he had landed in Remnant, a tugging, stretching, shrinking, heating, cooling feeling. Red and black light swirled around him as he finally was spat out, landing on his knees next to the woman who looked down at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Jaune didn't wait for a response. "How did you figure out how to do that?"

She continued looking at him. "It's my semblance. You don't need to know more than that."

Jaune glared at her, but decided to not continue asking questions. He would have time for that later.

He got up off his knees, looking around. They were in what looked to be a living room mixed with an office. A desk sat in the corner with a computer on it, papers all over it. A couch sat in the middle of the room, facing a TV. A door led off to what looked like a kitchen, and three other doors to what were likely a bedroom, a bathroom, and the outside.

The room as a whole didn't seem to suit the tall, intimidating woman at his side, but then again, she had just opened a portal that seemed to be related to what had sent him to Remnant. He didn't know what to expect any more.

"Nice place. Rug really ties the room together." Jaune commented, waving his arm at the rug that was lying in front of the sofa.

The woman just turned to look at him, shook her head slightly, and motioned to the couch. They both sat down and waited for the other to start talking.

"Good talk" Jaune finally said.

The woman cocked her head. "Jaune Arc, you really are a special specimen. You get kidnapped and taken to the White Fang's largest base, get taken from there by me, and still manage to poke fun at me?"

"It's a talent. Among others." Jaune grinned, then let the smile die. "You said you were going to tell me what you need help with?"

"I did. As far as I know, you are the only person I can think of who can help here. I know all your secrets Jaune, and I have ways to make sure you don't escape if I choose to detain you. So please do cooperate."

 _Contender for 'Most Mixed Messages' right here. Threats of torture after taking me to her home? Jeez._

"Alright, so you're really powerful. You know how to stalk people really really well. You can use portals at a whim. That sword is not just for decoration. Given all of this, what exactly can I do that you can't? What is it that you need my help for?" Jaune leaned back, hands moving animatedly.

"Your brain Jaune. I have seen what you are capable of doing, and for me to achieve my goals, I need that." The woman stated simply.

Jaune was surprised. What exactly were her _goals_? He decided to ask.

"And to what end will my brain be used? White Fang? Crime? Something else?" Jaune knew that the woman was not with Ozpin, or she would have taken him directly to Beacon.

"Against the Grimm."

The answer gave him pause. That lined up perfectly with one of his topmost priorities.

"As in, killing them and protecting the world?"

"As in killing them, finding their source, and killing that too."

"You want to end the Grimm once and for all?"

"Yes, that is my goal."

"And you are all by your own?"

She nodded in affirmative.

"How are more people not with you? Isn't this the whole point of being a Hunter or a Huntress? I bet Ozpin would support you if you talked to him. You said that you had gone to Beacon, so he should know you."

She didn't reply for a few seconds.

"Ozpin and I... have our disagreements. His team don't agree with my methods of going about solving my problems, and have refused to help. Everyone else either has an agenda of their own or agree with Ozpin over me. You are the first person I have met that seems to share my view of the world."

"And what view is that?" Jaune thought he already had an idea.

"Our goals above all. Accomplishing our tasks through any means necessary. You built an entire array of clones and outfitted them, all to accomplish a goal of gathering resources that were independent of Ozpin."

Jaune couldn't help but be impressed at how perceptive this woman was. Maybe an alliance truly was a good idea.

"That is true. And I do share the same goal as you; the Grimm must go."

"So you agree with me. Good. Now, do you accept my offer to work together on this end goal?"

"Yeah, sure why not. I don't know anything about you, but I got a good feeling you'll warm up to me."

"…"

"Yeah, a bit out of place. Sorry, couldn't help it. Now, about getting me home? I really need to get back."

The woman nodded, swiping a sword through the air, forming another portal.

"Sweet. Though I do want to know one thing before I leave. Can't keep calling you 'mysterious scary lady', so what's your name?"

She just stared at him as she had done many times since their meeting in the White Fang building.

Jaune shrugged and moved to step into the portal, when her voice stopped him.

"Raven."

He grinned. "Told you you would warm up." He didn't wait for a response and stepped through the portal.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	12. Taking Out The Trash

**Jaune Arc**

Stretching, shrinking, heating, cooling, the whole works. Jaune was ready for the experience and managed to stay on his feet as he exited Raven's portal.

He crouched, trying to figure out where he was. Trees surrounded him, the cool pre-dawn air buffeting the canopies slightly.

He took his scroll out, hoping Raven had put him somewhere near Beacon. The device took a few seconds to turn on and then locate him.

 **Emerald Forest, 30km from Beacon Academy** , the display read.

Jaune planned his approach. He knew his teammates and friends would've gone straight to Ozpin. He checked RWBY and his team's locations. They seemed to be in their rooms, as Jaune had expected.

Ozpin wouldn't have let them search for him, and would've sent someone more experienced. He scanned the school, looking for where all the staff were. They all were stationary in different rooms, but there was one person missing: Glynda.

 _Figures, she's pretty damn good. I should hurry back before she digs too deep trying to find me._

He couldn't just barge in and tell the whole story. Raven had told him that Ozpin and her weren't on the best of terms, and Jaune did not want to get Ozpin involved.

He could just say he escaped from the Bullhead and made his way back to Beacon using his scroll. He scooped up some dirt and smeared it all over his clothes, making sure there were deep dirt stains.

He lessened the aura on his chest and made some shallow cuts, enough for blood to stain his shirt to give the impression he was hurt. He really needed to sell the impression he had fought hard.

His appearance ready, he activated the Gravity Dust in his shoes and pushed off the forest floor. He flew forwards and up, flying over the trees. His aura was continually being sapped, but that was his intention.

He reached the apex of his jump and started slowly falling back to the earth. He jumped back, his forward momentum carrying him dozens of meters with each jump. Every jump carried him farther, and he kept this up, aura flowing into the dust like water.

He finally covered the distance to the Beacon cliffs, sliding across the tree-less plain at the foot. Bending his legs, he sprang up, reaching for any footholds and pushing off of them. The low gravity helped him gather speed as he practically flew across the cliff face.

He pulled his sword out, stabbing it into the top of the cliff, swinging his body around the edge and sliding to a halt.

 _Wish someone was filming that._

Jaune deactivated his boots, aura at 35%, almost fully red.

 _That Gravity Dust is really hungry, but it figures, I just did sprint across the forest and up a cliff._

He trekked his way to Beacon using the map on his scroll, feeling as if he truly had fought his way out of an airship.

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

 **The next morning**

Pyrrha felt the rays of sun on her face and turned away instinctively, trying to sleep in. She wasn't a morning person and any sleep she could get before Nora loudly awoke everyone.

Her mind was blissful for about five seconds before the worry came crashing back down upon her, sleep evaporating under the emotion.

 _Jaune!_

She sprang up, heading to the bathroom to freshen up and change. She was going to head up to Ozpin's office to check on the search for Jaune.

She had comforted herself with Jaune's promise that he would get back safe. Falling asleep had been hard, but her trust in Jaune had helped.

She turned the door handle to the bathroom. It didn't budge.

She tried again, trying to determine if it was stuck or something.

"You really want to be in here with me, is that it Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha froze. That was Jaune's voice.

"Jaune?"

"Unless you know someone else who sounds like me." Jaune sounded upbeat, cheerful even.

"Jaune, what, how, when, are you okay?!" Pyrrha was conflicted, and the confusion caused her brain to short out.

"Hey, hey, calm down. You don't want Nora up yet. Wait a bit, I'll be right out."

Pyrrha moved back and stared at the door. Jaune had somehow made his way back to Beacon. After being kidnapped by two of Vale's most wanted. From an airship hundreds of feet in the air.

The door opened and Jaune stepped out. His clothes mere dirty and ripped, dirt smeared all over. The shirt was bloodied, but it was old and dried. There were no scratches on him and he looked okay, so she figured that his aura was okay.

"You must have quite a few questions, Pyrrha."

 _What an understatement._

"I indeed do have some questions Jaune. Have you told Ozpin you're back? He sent Glynda out to search for you!"

Jaune looked slightly guilty. "No, I came in here first. Wanted to get cleaned up and catch up with you guys first."

"You should get changed first. Your clothes are an absolute mess." Pyrrha herded him over to his wardrobe and made him take his clothes and change in the bathroom.

While was changing, Nora, and by extension Ren, had woken up. Pyrrha put a hand over Nora's mouth and quietly explained Jaune's arrival into her ear, silencing the boisterous girl.

Nora had nodded and sat silently, a rare thing for her. Ren was calm as usual, as if Pyrrha had told him the morning paper had come in.

Jaune stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in his usual hoodie and jeans.

"Morning guys, glad to see you're up." He walked over to his bed and took a seat, facing them.

Everyone was silent, the three of them staring at Jaune, waiting for him to start talking.

"Alright, so guys, I am so sorry. I would've fought back against Torchwick while we were on the highway, but Weiss was in danger. I didn't want to risk a battle, not with both Neo and Torchwick there. I had to go with them."

They continued to stare at him. He rubbed his eyes, composure dropping slightly.

"Look guys, I did what I thought was best at the time. I know all of you were worried about me, but honestly, I was fine. They didn't dare harm me, not until their mysterious boss said to. So I took the first opportunity I could to escape in the Bullhead. I tried ramming the door open and Torchwick tried to stop me. We fought, and eventually I managed to weaken the door enough for me to slam it and fall out. I fell to the ground and escaped into the woods. Made my way here after that. Not much of a story to be honest."

 _Only Jaune. Only my partner could think that fighting and falling out of a Bullhead isn't much of a story._

"Jaune, are you not tired? You must have used a lot of aura during the fight and afterwards." Pyrrha kept her voice moderated.

"Yeah, I'm bone-tired right now actually. Not enough to conk out, and I do need to head to Ozpin's like you said I should. I'll see you guys around."

Jaune got up and headed out, the door closing behind him.

Nora still had a shocked expression on her face, Ren's eyebrows were slightly higher than normal, and Pyrrha, well she didn't know how to feel.

She felt happy because Jaune was back. He may have been hurt, judging by the blood on his shirt, but he was safe at Beacon now.

She also felt angry at him for going with Torchwick almost willingly. Pyrrha had been around Jaune long enough to know when he was hiding something. He had not said anything to Torchwick other than a token response. No negotiating, no trying to get out of the situation. He had just walked into the Bullhead and flew off, even waving at them!

 _Jaune Arc, just you wait till the relief wears off. You're going to have to answer to me._

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune had been thinking something along the same lines. He knew Pyrrha would be mad at him for what he had done, and that her relief was the only thing still keeping her from getting angry.

He rushed out as fast as he could after the one-sided conversation with his team, hoping to let them calm down and think.

He headed to Ozpin's office, encountering no one in the halls. It was still early in the morning, and a weekend to boot. No self-respecting student was going to be up and wandering the hallways at this hour.

He rode the elevator up. His team had seemed to believe his story, but he knew Ozpin wouldn't at first. The story would be put up to much more scrutiny, and Jaune had to get a realistic web of lies ready.

The elevator dinged open. Jaune walked to Ozpin's door and knocked, the sound echoing through the hallway.

 _Who else worked here anyways? I never see anyone coming and going._

The door opened, and Jaune strode into the office. Ozpin was in his usual location at his desk, doing something or another. If he was surprised at Jaune's arrival, he didn't show it.

"Ah Mr. Arc. I'm glad you made your way back. I shall contact Glynda at once." He continued typing, not even looking up. "I think she would like to know the details of your escape and subsequent return, so I would wait here until she comes back. Please, have a seat."

Jaune took the seat Ozpin gestured at. He looked around the office and twiddled his thumbs, waiting for Glynda to get back.

 **Cinder Fall**

"What do you mean Jaune Arc has been kidnapped?" Her voice was low, threatening.

"It seems that Torchwick was interrupted at his White Fang rally by a student from Beacon. He chased her down in an Atlas Paladin, though he was defeated by her team and Jaune. Torchwick and Neo then managed to sneak up on them after they were distracted by the arrival of Pyrrha Nikos. They threatened to kill the Schnee girl and took him by Bullhead to the White Fang HQ."

The poor grunt was shaking in his boots as he delivered this news. He had every reason to be scared, this was Cinder Fall he was talking to after all.

She walked forward, the patterns on her dress glowing slightly in the dim light.

"Do you know who ordered this kidnapping?" Cinder gripped the grunt's face and made him look at her. Abject fear filled his eyes and he swallowed twice before replying.

"It was the White Fang, Ms. Fall. They wanted to interrogate the boy about the Prometheans."

Cinder's grip tightened, her fingers clutching the man's face with a surprising strength.

"Do you know anything more about this?" Cinder's voice was almost sweet.

"No, Ms. Fall I do-" His eyes widened as he realized his mistake.

Cinder's hands glowed, and the man screamed.

The body dropped to the floor, face a mangled mess. Cinder often didn't kill anyone personally, but this man had delivered terrible news to her.

The White Fang had been doing business behind her back, and which directly interfered with her plans. They would pay, oh yes they would pay.

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune had just finished explaining his story to Glynda and Ozpin. Ozpin didn't really react, but Glynda was staring at him worriedly.

"So you just fell out and landed in the woods?" Glynda asked him.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jaune shrugged.

"Can you show us where you landed?" Ozpin spoke for the first time.

 _I knew he would doubt me._

"I actually can't, it was outside of Vale and the location wasn't saved on my scroll." Not a lie, technically.

"Can I see your scroll Jaune?" Ozpin held out a hand.

Jaune handed it over, trying to think up an excuse for what he knew Ozpin would ask him.

Ozpin plugged the scroll into his own computer and glanced at the information it showed him.

Jaune, it shows your position moving out of range and then suddenly appearing an hour or so later in the middle of the Emerald Forest. Care to explain?"

"My scroll's battery got dislodged during the fight, I managed to turn it on at that point in the forest to find Beacon's exact location." Not the best lie, but it was believable.

Ozpin simply nodded and handed his scroll back to him. "Do you have any idea who could have hired Torchwick and Neo to kidnap you?"

Jaune shook his head. "Though they might have wanted me to make them weapons, seeing as how the weapons expo just happened."

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed, I believe that was their intention too. You shall have to be more careful in the future Jaune. I believe this places a bit of a damper on our future plans."

Jaune perked up slightly. "What plans?"

Glynda finally spoke up. "The headmaster was planning to send you to Atlas on a research mission. You were to work with Atlas scientists on some projects they have been working on."

"That sounds fun. Why should these plans be delayed? I would be under the protection of Atlas and on a different continent altogether."

Ozpin replied this time. "Our enemies would immediately know if you were being sent to Atlas and would no doubt have start preparing. If we delay the trip, then we have time to plan your protection as well as make traps for anyone attempting to kidnap you."

 _That makes sense. Though what am I supposed to do until then?_

"That sounds reasonable. When can I expect this trip to take place?"

"In two or three months. I will contact you with the details after a month. Remember, do not tell anyone about this plan. You are excused." Ozpin turned to Glynda and started talking in a low voice.

Jaune nodded and walked out of the office, waving at the two teachers as he left.

 _That felt rushed, as if Ozpin wasn't really focused on what I was saying. He seemed way to focused on his computer._

Jaune just shrugged and opened his scroll.

 **Transfer Complete, Content Ready**

Jaune grinned and opened the files he had copied off of Ozpin's computer. He had put a program on his scroll that would copy the most opened and recently opened files on any computer it was plugged into, and Jaune intended to see just exactly what Ozpin was looking at.

The first file he opened was just a simple message. **Queen has pawns.**

 _Hmm, more chess? Interesting._

The second and third files were both school related, and so were the rest.

 _Queen has pawns. Who is this queen exactly? Cinder? Raven? Has to be female, but who?_

 **Jaune Arc**

 **10 PM, Vale Docks**

He had told his story to team RWBY and the story had somehow (Yang!) spread throughout the school, getting more and more fictional with each retelling.

Which was ironic considering that it was 100% homegrown, organic, non-GMO fiction to begin with, but what can you do?

After dinner and a lengthy discussion with Pyrrha about making them worried out of their minds, he was finally ready to slip into bed, then into a Promethean to relieve some stress on the criminal scum of Vale.

He left dinner early to head to bed. He was contemplating his plans for the night when a voice spoke into his ear.

"Jaune, are you alone right now?"

 _Raven?_

"Uh, yeah. What's up?" Jaune really didn't know what to say. He'd never been contacted by portal before.

"Meet me at 10 at the Vale docks. As a Promethean." The portal fizzled out of existence.

…

 _I swear to god no one in this town knows how to ask me to come nicely! It's always 'Jaune get your ass here'. Stupid scary females and their unsaid threats of death._

He stared at the water, as if it could help him with his problems.

A red light illuminated the area and Raven stepped out, looking much the same as she had the day before.

"Raven."

"Jaune."

"You sounded urgent. So what's going on?"

"I have heard reports of Grimm gathering in the lost city of Mountain Glenn."

Jaune had heard of Mountain Glenn, it was the first large expansion by the kingdom of Vale. They had constructed an elaborate system of tunnels to the city. The city itself had been successful for a short while, until the Grimm attacked.

The city had to evacuate on short notice as scores of Nevermore, Ursa, Beowolves, snakelike King Taijitus, giant elephant-like Goliaths and many other species of Grimm ravaged the city.

The death toll had been in the high ten thousands, the Grimm destroying without discrimination. Man, woman, and child had been killed as they tried to flee the onslaught of the creatures.

It had been the largest loss of life due to the Grimm ever, partly due to the terrible handling of the emergency by the officials in charge. The subway system had been blocked up, each train car not full to the brim, leaving many waiting for as much as 3 hours to get out.

These delays had let the Grimm, who were attracted to negative emotion, find the large mass of terrified humans with ease. They had soon infiltrated the tunnels themselves and were headed in a beeline straight to Vale.

The Council of Vale had decided to detonate the tunnels at certain distances along the tunnel to provide adequate impediment to the Grimm front. The tactic had worked, though thousands had been trapped in the city after the collapse of the tunnel.

Learning about the incident had filled Jaune with anger at the incompetency of the people who came up with the plan. The warning systems sounded too late for people to finish evacuating, the security measures had not been nearly enough for the large attack, the whole bungled extraction, the list went on.

"So? Grimm have occupied the city completely ever since the fall of the city."

"This gathering is a large anomaly, even for such an infested area. I've been hearing reports of two Basilisks that have made their nest inside a section of the collapsed tunnels. There are also a couple Behemoths that have been establishing territory around the edges of the city."

Jaune's mind reeled. A single Behemoth required at least 3 fully qualified hunters to take it down. The two of them, against multiple Behemoths? Madness.

"Raven, you're not suggesting that we go and kill these Behemoths this night, are you?" Jaune turned to look at her. Her mask betrayed no emotion, though Jaune could tell she was amused.

"Oh no. We're killing the Basilisks." Raven said offhandedly, summoning a portal.

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Mountain Glenn**

Jaune stepped out of the portal feeling even worse that he had before Raven had arrived.

 _Friggin Basilisks! We're going to be taking out a nest of Basilisks!_

He had searched up Raven when he had reconnected to the CCT after his little 'trip'. From what he could find, she was pretty damn mysterious, not showing up in any records, not even old school records. They either did not get uploaded or were deleted after some time.

There were plenty of news articles about a woman matching her description, generally seen leaving scenes of crimes or massacres of Grimm.

He had gathered she was a formidable fighter, a result that was affected in no small part by her semblance, Jaune thought.

 _I mean, if you can tunnel through space instantly, that is quite useful in a fight. So jealous._

Jaune had no doubt she wouldn't immediately be killed during the battle; he was more concerned for himself.

Basilisks were ferocious creatures. They were snakelike, with small legs sticking out of their side every couple of feet. Adults grew to be over 50 feet long, with foot thick hides that reflected most projectiles.

Their fangs were more than 3 feet long and had the unique ability to fold up when not needed. They had powerful muscles behind them, and the Basilisk used them to its full advantage, slashing them out an enemy to disorient them. That was followed by a clean stab and a painful death for the unfortunate enemy.

Though that wasn't its most formidable weapon. Its eyes were generally closed shut, using its heat pits to sense its way around its location. It only opened them midway through battles, using them to sear their enemies.

The powerful energy beams emitted by the eyes would first paralyze the enemy, in a 'deer-in-the-headlights way. Then the real fun would begin and the beam would increase in intensity, slowly burning the victim's eyes and eventually their brain.

Jaune had some plans against such beams, namely his night vision goggles that he would have to use due to the darkness. They would block some of the incoming energy, giving Jaune time to dodge before the beam got strong enough to paralyze him.

He also had taken a sword almost identical to Crocea Mors with him, as he didn't want to risk destroying Crocea Mors itself if he had to self-detonate.

His chemical gloves were on, though he wasn't sure exactly how useful they would be against the Grimm.

"Hey Raven, can your mask filter air?" Jaune asked, realizing he wasn't alone in the battle.

"It cannot. Are you planning something?"

"A Plan C yeah. Let's get going, the less time I think about this the better."

He followed Raven through the ruined city streets. The sight wasn't new to him; he had seen the same destruction wreaked upon Vale during his vision after initiation.

They picked their way around rubble, trying to remain undetected by the Grimm that haunted the city. Beowolves occasionally came close by, but never close enough to detect them.

They arrived at a large crashed skyscraper, the frame of it bent and twisted, all its innards spilling out like a giant wounded animal. They made their way across the pile of concrete and climbed up the frame of the building, moving to the large hole in the middle.

They hole was at least 20 feet in radius, and extended through the building's ruin into the ground. Shapes moved inside the hole, though Jaune couldn't tell for sure, even through the night vision goggles. Raven's mask had a similar arrangement as Jaune's goggles, though it wasn't as good as his.

"How many do you think are down there?" Jaune asked, trying to identify any of the shapes by size.

"No idea. Didn't manage to go in that close. You ready?" Raven put a hand on her sword.

Jaune just sighed and hefted one of his sonic bombs, this time on a timer.

"Ready." He pulled the pin and tossed it in, followed by a couple flares and smoke bombs.

He followed their arc downwards and closed his eyes, bracing himself. The bombs detonated, bathing the entire area in a blazing white light and shaking them to their bones. Jaune opened his eyes to see Raven leap off into the abyss, sword flashing in the afterglow of the flash grenades.

She seemed to move in slow motion, her sword glowing red, arcing through the air, falling through a portal as her sword darted forwards. She disappeared for a second and then reappeared through the portal once more, sheathing her sword and rotating a dial.

Jaune noticed the lack of a blade before the sheathing and noticed that the rotation seemed to be occurring throughout the sheath.

 _Dust blades? Interesting…_

He didn't have any more time to think as the rock he had been standing on exploded outwards, hurling him through the air. He latched onto a broken girder and swung around, landing on it.

He looked around to see what had caused the explosion…and there.

 _Oh wonderful, Thermites. Just wonderful._

Thermites were small, highly explosive suicidal Grimm that ran at fortified positions to try and destroy them. The only Grimm that could send them out were Behemoths and Goliaths. And there were no Behemoths here.

 _WHY? WHY ME?_

He activated a scorch crystal, shooting the flames forward at where he could see the Thermites were running around. Raven was nowhere to be seen, and Jaune assumed she had gone down again. He leaped forwards, straight out over the abyss.

He activated his Gravity Boots, letting himself fly high above the abyss. He charged his railgun as he reached the peak of his flight and fired the explosive payload into the abyss at a particularly active area of shadows.

Flames blossomed around the bodies of Beowolves and Ursa as they were thrown from the explosion. The flames provided enough illumination for Jaune to see the coiling mass of a Basilisk and Raven as she slashed at the beast, leaping over its body and under its strikes, not one attack touching her.

 _She's really good._

Jaune deactivated his Gravity Dust and fell towards the ground forty feet below him. He braced himself for the impact, and felt his aura drop slightly as he hit the ground. Slashing his sword around as he rose from the impact, he felt the blade pass through flesh.

A beowolf shrieked, the sound illuminating the area as his sonar sensor picked up on the reflected sound, green lines highlighting edges and enemies. He kept swinging, using the element of surprise to dispatch 6 beowolves with ease. An Ursa roared, making his view clear again.

He turned towards the charging creature and dropped to the ground, rolling under the attack and stabbing into the soft flesh of its chest. It grunted in surprise as it felt the cold metal in its chest. Its momentum carried it off the blade and Jaune leaped backwards, feeling a Beowolf's claws pass right by him.

He pulled out a water crystal from his belt and poured aura in, flooding the area with water. He leaped into the air as water sloshed under him, activating an Ice Crystal. The area in a ten-foot radius froze and Jaune landed on the ice, trying to not slip. As soon as he got his balance, he felt a powerful something smack into his back and send him flying across the area and slam into the wall that was mere feet from him.

His Barrier Dust absorbed most of the impact and he rolled out of the way after he landed on the ground, seeing a fang embedded in the dirt, connected to a large black head.

 _1v1? Challenge accepted scrub._

Jaune somersaulted backwards, only a handful of Grimm remaining in the area. The rest of the survivors of his and Raven's attack had fled down the tunnels dotting the area, leaving the biggest and bravest of their group behind.

Jaune kept leaping backwards, avoiding the Basilisk's strikes, each one missing him by inches. Left, right, left, up, roll, down, dodge, roll back, jump off fang to the side, throw ice, narrow miss again. This dance continued for a bit while Jaune tried to figure out how he intended to even damage the beast.

Finally seeing a chance, he used the fang as a step to leap onto the beast's head, stabbing his sword into the thick hide. He quickly loaded his railgun and charged, hanging on for dear life as the Basilisk tried to shake him off.

He barely felt the click through the vibrations emitted by the Grimm. He pulled the trigger, the penetrating round embedding itself inside the beast's head. The Basilisk roared and smashed its head against the sides of the cavern. The recoil had dislodged his sword and he pulled it out right before being crushed against the rock.

The mass of the basilisk's thrashing body smashed down on him over and over again and he could feel his aura slipping away like water through a sieve.

80%. 75. 70. 65. 60. 55. 50. The aura meter on the HUD slowly counted down. 45. 40.

His aura had reached 25% when he felt the battering stop and the Basilisk retreat under a deafening clanging of metal against the Basilisk's hide. Jaune groggily tried to bring the rest of the world past his hands into focus and saw Raven slashing at the Basilisk with a flaming blade.

Each cut made its mark on the Basilisk, though it wasn't enough to damage it fully. He looked for the other basilisk and saw it struggling to move in a dark corner of the cavern, a large ice spike driven through its eye.

 _What a weapon that sword is. She must either be really good at using Dust or have some good stuff on hand. Need to ask her once I'm out of here._

She whirled through the air, delivering slash upon slash to the Basilisk's head, making it reel backwards. Jaune stumbled to his feet, clutching his chest as he felt the pain from the battering catch up to him. He doubled over and almost retched as the pain overwhelmed his senses.

His chest felt as if it was filling with liquid fire, his breath was shallow, and each heartbeat was a stab through his chest. His ribs grated against each other with the smallest movement and Jaune noticed his aura dip trying to heal him.

15% aura remaining.

 _Well this is it for this body. I won't be able to let it heal fully with this level of aura, and natural healing won't leave the body functioning at its full. It had a good run though._

Jaune ignored the pain and waved his arms trying to get Raven's attention. She didn't seem to pay attention.

"RAVEN! PORTAL OUT! I'M GONNA BRING THIS PLACE DOWN!" Jaune yelled, the pain almost overpowering him. To his relief, Raven seemed to hear him, delivering one final burning slash before falling into a portal and disappearing.

The basilisk turned his head to look at the last remaining enemy in the room and slithered closer, hissing from the pain. Emboldened by the Basilisk's approach, the other Grimm edged closer to Jaune, surrounding him.

Jaune dropped his sword at his feet and dropped the sheath on it. A beowolf stepped closer and Jaune threw a Scorch crystal at it, slightly singing the beowolf. Jaune threw the rest of his Scorch and Shock crystals at the Grimm, activating them just enough to keep them at bay. The Basilisk stayed back, regarding the human in front of it.

Jaune pulled every single explosive he had from his pouches, hooking them up to him to detonate all at the same time. These explosives, combined with the aura he would flood into his Energy Crystals would be enough to cave in the network of tunnels within 100 feet of him and if he was lucky, enough to destabilize the building enough for it to fall onto them all.

The Basilisk finally decided to make a move and hissed, drawing Jaune's eye. Its eyes were open and they felt like they were boring into his soul, burning him from the inside.

He struggled to look away and managed to succeed, only to feel actual searing heat inside of him. His mind exploded in a kaleidoscope of colors as he felt his blood start boiling. His aura had given up on being defensive and was working all out as damage repair.

Jaune felt his consciousness leaving him. Finding one last surge of strength through the excruciating pain, he looked up at the Basilisk, feeling his actual body way out in the distance.

"Hasta la vista, baby."

Jaune pulled the detonator, slipping out of the body as blinding light and roaring sound filled the cavern.

 **Jaune Arc  
**

 **Beacon Academy**

 **The following morning**

"Did you guys hear about that large explosion up in Mountain Glenn last night?"

Both teams were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria having breakfast.

Jaune finished his bite of pancake. "Thought no one went up there anymore. What could've caused it?"

Blake shook her head as everyone else leaned in to listen. "I don't know. The initial reports say that the Hunters posted on duty there first heard explosions coming from a collapsed Maynard Industries building in the city. They went out to investigate, but that's when a large explosion ripped through the building and collapsed it into the ground. I read about it on the early morning news."

Yang spoke up. "So was anyone seen around? Explosions of that size don't set themselves off you know."

Weiss answered before Blake could. "There was no one seen by the Hunters. But there was one other thing…"

Everyone leaned in further.

"The hunters there have cameras and motion detectors set up at certain points in the city, and while no one was caught on camera, the motion detectors detected two people walking towards the building, but none of them walking back out. Maybe they got caught in their own explosion?"

Everyone digested this. Could they have been hunters? White Fang? Atlas military? Whoever it was, they seemed to have died in the explosion.

Jaune almost heaved a sigh of relief. If everyone thought that the explosion killed whoever started it, the less likely they would want to investigate it, and the less likely it was to lead back to him.

 **Headmaster Ozpin**

 **Beacon Academy**

 **2 days later**

"What is the report on the explosion?" Ozpin demanded.

The man on the computer screen blinked and prepared his notes.

"Well, our initial readings showed large scale structural damage to the surrounding areas, as though a large bomb went off. Due to the size of the explosion and its relative proximity to the subway lines, we had commenced digging in the area to look for clues. We found one today."

The man held up a broken, mangled, charred looking piece of metal before Ozpin.

He looked at the metal, examining it. There was something slightly familiar about the piece, though he couldn't place it.

"Interesting. Please have it sent here for examination. That will be all."

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	13. Downhill Jam

**Headmaster Ozpin**

 **Beacon Academy**

Ozpin sat at his desk, half-moon spectacles reflecting the light streaming in from his window. In front of him was a sheet of paper, innocent looking, though the words it contained changed and rearranged many of Ozpin's plans.

 **The Mountain Glenn Explosions Report**

Not a very creative title, but the forensics experts weren't hired for their naming skills.

Ozpin skimmed the report, skipping past the stuff he already knew.

 **Examination of Debris**

Ozpin hummed, finally getting to the interesting bit.

 _Under the debris mentioned in Section IV, Part A, the digging team excavated a large system of tunnels that lead to a collapsed cavern, filled with large blocks of easily removed concrete._

 _The removal was made easy by the fact that Grimm had evacuated the area en masse. There was a debilitating pungent smell that permeated the area, requiring heavy duty gas masks to allow full motor control._

 _Inside the collapsed cavern, we found two slightly decomposed bodies of Basilisks surrounded almost completely decomposed bodies of Major Ursi and Major Beowolves._

 _Further analysis of the bodies revealed countless blade marks on the hide of the basilisks. This eliminates the possibility of a Dust related accident._

 _One of the basilisks had a large hole in its head, possibly created by a large spear of some kind, though the hole was too wide to be created by a hand held spear._

 _The other basilisk had most of its head blown off, though we found a long strip of metal inside the neck area. We have enclosed that sample in Box 2B._

 _The remains of the head of the second basilisk was found splattered on debris behind it, possibly the cavern wall. The head seemed to have been smashed into the wall at high speed, possible due to the explosion._

 _Next, there was evidence of a series of large explosions in the middle of the circle formed by decomposing bodies, which was possibly the explosion that brought the building down and killed the Grimm._

 _We found scattered human remains at the sight, along with more curious scraps of metal. The twisted piece of metal we reported a few days ago seems to be part of some sword. Beyond that, there was no way of finding any identification marks on the sword._

 _Based on this evidence, there is consensus that this was carried out by trained individuals. What their intention was is not known, though no terrorist groups have stepped forward to take credit._

 _Based on the amount of explosive used, this may have been a plot to destabilize the area above the tunnels in order to attract Grimm. If this was the case, then they failed in their mission as they didn't manage to destabilize anything of note._

The report continued on, but Ozpin had read enough. He opened Box 2B and unsealed the two packages of interest inside.

The first contained the spike found buried inside the Basilisk's neck. Ozpin set it aside, and then opened the second package.

This contained the other pieces of metal found near the explosion site. Unlike the remains of the sword, this was made of many different types of metals, layered together in curious patterns. Channels were gouged out inside the metal, and there were small holes that seemed like they were supposed to hold something.

The description of the piece mentioned that 'the horrible smell' seemed to get stronger near the glove, and that they had to cleanse the whole piece thoroughly to get rid of it.

Ozpin turned it over, trying to figure out its use. Nothing sprang to his mind immediately and he put it down to examine later.

He then turned his attention to the most promising piece: the sword, or at least the remains of it.

Ozpin turned the long ruined piece over, looking all over it. There were many indentations along the length, each one looking like something had exploded inside.

 _Explosives in a sword? No, anything powerful would damage the sword and the user. Dust? Probably set off when the aura dissipated upon the death of the user. Interesting._

Plenty of people imbedded their weapons with Dust, it was incredibly useful in battle, after all.

The location of the holes and the metal put around the holes themselves was incredibly curious. Ozpin had never seen such a thing before.

He tapped on the blade, creating a slightly higher pitched noise than was expected. _Hollow?_

Ozpin dug around inside his desk, finding a Burn Crystal used for cutting metal in factories. He cut the blade down the middle lengthwise, the metal peeling away.

Nothing. There was nothing inside, no mechanisms, no Dust, nothing. Ozpin sighed and put the metal back. It was possible there was more to the sword, but it was unlikely it still was left in one piece, given that the search had turned up nothing.

 _A broken sword, a dangerous chemical, a large explosion that killed the people who set it off, death of two Basilisks and many other Grimm, and a collapsed network of Grimm tunnels. This will be quite fun._

 **Jaune Arc**

 **A Month Later**

Jaune was currently trying not to go crazy.

He had a terrible headache that threatened to split his mind right open and his current situation wasn't helping.

He almost wished he was in a Promethean's body, but that would mean either dealing with the criminal masses, Roman, or Cinder. There also was the fact that Raven would probably enlist him to go and kill more Grimm, or something worse. She had done that twice already, though they were smaller targets than the Basilisks had been.

Raven had not seemed to realize that he had technically died back in the hole and had just assumed he had planned it all out.

Furthermore, Jaune also realized that she thought his Promethean guise was just a sham, an illusion, not a different body. He had been relieved at that, no one knew about the clones yet, and that was good.

It had been a month and everyone had moved past both his kidnapping and the explosion in Mountain Glenn. Ozpin had yet to contact him with the details of his trip to Atlas, and Jaune taken the time to prepare for the trip. He had, under the guise of packing all his tools, managed to pack away a Prometheus I along with the other C that he had kept as a backup. He stowed them inside crates along with life support systems and their weapons.

He had labeled everything with warning stickers, the better to avoid any potential mishaps. After all his preparations, there still was more time to wait, and that put him between a rock and a hard place.

The rock was going out as a Promethean which he didn't feel like doing anytime soon. The hard place however was the situation he found himself in. He knew that he would have to be social when he had accepted being a student, but this was ridiculous!

The 'this' in particular was going shopping for the school dance that was coming up. He had tried to back off and announce he was planning on not attending, but Yang had threatened torture in no uncertain words, and Jaune didn't want to get on the other side of those fists anytime soon.

So Jaune was now sitting next to Ren looking as if he wanted to end his life. The girls scampered around, trying out different clothes and talking the whole time.

Ruby and Blake were the only ones who seemed to be in the same mindset as Jaune, judging by their longing glances at the door, but Yang and Weiss were there to stop any attempts at mutiny.

Jaune pulled out his scroll, trying to think of something to do either now or in the future. Hoping that something would come up that would allow him to get out of this hell he was in, something anything.

 **Ping**

Jaune opened the notification, reading the message.

 _Jaune, please meet me in my office as soon as possible to discuss the details of your trip to Atlas._

Jaune grinned widely and set his scroll away.

"Hey guys, I really hate to have to go, but Ozpin wants to meet, and we can't leave him hanging, so I'll just skedaddle that way…" Jaune scampered out before anyone could say anything.

 **Headmaster Ozpin's Office**

Jaune was sat in his usual chair in front of Ozpin's desk, waiting for the man to finish what he was doing on his computer.

"Jaune, you are still interested in going to Atlas, is that correct?" Ozpin glanced up from his screen.

Jaune nodded in the affirmative. Of course he wanted to, this was Atlas! The technology capital of Remnant! Other than his lab, no other place on Remnant was so technologically advanced.

"Good. We have made arrangements for the trip. You shall be leaving next week, have your stuff ready. Your team will be going with you, here are the files with all the information you need. Do you have any questions?"

"Shouldn't I ask my team for consent? Seeing as how I have the privilege of accepting or declining the mission?"

"Jaune, you are the team leader. You are the one who makes the decision for his team. In the future when you are on missions deep in Grimm territories, you must have complete faith that your team members do exactly what you say. They must learn to follow your decisions without hesitation, and that is developed not in life or death situations, but in events such as this."

Jaune could see the logic in that and simply nodded. He knew his team trusted him, and that they wouldn't question him taking them to Atlas on such short notice.

"What will be our mission sir? I wouldn't be taking my entire team there just for me to pal around with the scientists there."

"All the details are in the folders. I'm sorry Mr. Arc, but my free time here is at an end. If you have any questions, please contact Glynda and she will help you. You are excused."

Jaune nodded and walked out of the office, back to the team room to wait for his teammates to get back from their shopping trip.

He skimmed the details on the walk back, eyes stopping at the length and start date of the mission.

 _Indefinite length? What are they expecting us to do?_

The start date however was more concerning. It was next week which meant…

 _Oh no. Nora is not going to be happy._

 **Jaune Arc**

 **Team JNPR's Room**

Jaune had been right. Nora was not happy.

"Fearless Leader! You should've told us that before I bought this expensive dress! The man at the counter even told me no returns, and I waved him off and now I can't even wear it and it's a waste!" Nora wailed, clutching his hoodie in grief.

"Nora, calm down. There will still be reasons to wear it in the future, it's not a waste!" Jaune tried to calm her down, desperate. "Hey, how about I make Alfred make double pancakes for you every day until we leave, how about that?"

Nora looked up at him, eyes shimmering. "You… you would do that?"

"Yes Nora, I would. I'll even foot the bill for the extra batter. Now will you cheer up?"

Nora nodded and let go of him, heading back to sit on her bed.

"Jaune, is this true? Are we going on a mission as a team to Atlas?" Pyrrha spoke, voice hopeful.

"You're not going to start bawling that we missed the dance, are you?"

Pyrrha shot him a glare and he decided to stop teasing.

"Yes, Pyrrha. We are going on a mission to Atlas, as team JNPR and we are going to represent Beacon. Now let's read the details of the mission shall we?"

They all opened their folders and started reading.

 **Objective** : _To assist in finding and neutralizing Grimm threats around key Atlas research base._

 _Your missions will carry you into the Badlands at the foot of the Mantle mountain range, where you will be tasked with tasks comprising of infiltration, sabotage, and testing of Atlas weapons. You will be under the direct command of Major Ashe, who will provide you with specific details of your quarters as well as individual missions. Any and all resources will be provided, including but not limited to: food, medical support, transport, clothes, Dust, and weapon repairs._

The folders contained maps and such of the area around the base and details about the Grimm that surrounded it. The base was surrounded on three sides by large hills, and the ocean was the fourth side. Sentry outposts on the hills gave them advantage of sight, and the hills and ocean gave them protection from large scale attacks.

Overall, it would be very tough for any Grimm or White Fang to infiltrate the base, but from what Jaune had read in the report, they hadn't stopped trying countless times. Once, a small group had managed to steal an experimental airship from the maintenance yard, but were shot down before they could even leave the base.

Jaune took his scroll out while everyone finished reading. He turned on his secure channels and messaged Raven about the mission. He only had to wait a minute for her reply.

 _Raven: An Atlas military base? You're going to have almost free reign of the lab, yes?_

 _Jaune: Yep, pretty much. I'll be monitored a bit more in the first couple of days, but soon they'll likely let me work in peace._

 _Raven: Keep in contact. Try to hook up to Atlas's CCT network as early as possible, we'll need to talk. I have a plan for Atlas._

 _Jaune: Something other than killing Grimm all over Vale? Finally._

 _Raven: Yes, something other than that. As soon as you're alone in Atlas, contact me._

 _Jaune: Kk, will do._

Jaune exited the chat and pocketed the scroll. Something told him Raven really did have a plan in place and it was something that would be incredibly dangerous.

 _That's just how Raven is I guess._

Jaune hadn't known her for long, but he knew he trusted her to watch for him. They had had a couple of conversations about the state of the world, the Faunus, and the increased rate of Grimm attacks. She had seemed intelligent and well informed, always having something to contribute. Those conversations along with the extermination missions they had gone on together, he thought he knew her pretty well.

She was in some ways very similar to him. She had the ability to focus on one objective singularly, committing all her concentration to achieving that goal. She had strong opinions, but was willing to discuss and change them. He enjoyed her company, and it seemed she enjoyed his.

Jaune knew that whatever plan she had cooked up; it wouldn't be something he would be opposed to. He might complain and moan and try to say it was too dangerous, but he wouldn't back out.

And that realization surprised him. He had only known her for a month, but trusted her on the same level as Goodwitch, someone who had been helping him in many ways for almost a year.

 _If Raven has been planning this Atlas mission for some time as I think she has, this will be an interesting trip for sure._

 **Jaune Arc**

 **A Week Later**

 **Saber Base, Atlas**

Jaune wasn't feeling too well as he stepped off the Bullhead that had brought them all here. He had tried his best to sleep, meditate, distract himself, but all his attempts to distract himself from the constant and unrelenting waves of nausea had only saved him from the worst of it.

Every time he had opened his mouth during the flight, it had seemed as if his stomach was trying to escape. His aura had been useless as usual, doing nothing to help him feel better.

Pyrrha had tried to help, rubbing his back when the turbulence got really bad and he appreciated that. The flight had taken up most of a day, and Jaune's will to live had lessened with each passing mile.

Jaune moved to the back of the Bullhead to oversee the unloading of his cargo. Boxes upon boxes were unloaded, each only undergoing very basic scans to satisfy protocols. He had lined the boxes that contained everything to do with Prometheans with lead. He had made cuts and thinned the lead to make the sensor think that there is just Dust and materials inside.

It worked and Jaune watched the boxes being loaded into grey and white trucks to be driven to their quarters. Moving back around the front of the Bullhead, he watched a small convoy of three jeeps drive up to them.

They were made of grey metal with white Atlas insignias on the sides, along with some snowy camouflage designs. Inside the first and the last jeeps sat four Atlesian soldiers. They were covered in full-body armor, with a visored helmet that only showed their mouths. They each carried a standard issue rifle by the looks of it.

In the middle jeep there were only two soldiers. One was a normal soldier, but the other was an older grey haired woman with a ferocious look on her face. She was wearing grey fatigues and a greyish white hat.

That was a common theme in Atlas, it seemed. From their military to their cities that Jaune had looked at while in the air, everything was shades of grey and white. It made sense, this was a mountainous land that was covered year round in snow. It didn't bother Jaune that much though he could tell the rest of his team were put off slightly by the sheer lack of color.

The convoy rolled up to them and Jaune stood as straight as he could. The woman stepped out of the jeep and faced them.

"You must be the Beacon students." The woman's tone was not cold, though it wasn't warm either. It seemed neutral and controlled. "Team JNPR, I am Major Ashe, your new commander. I trust you read your briefings for your overall mission here. If not, you're out of luck as there is no time for any dilly-dallying while we let you do what you should have done before landing."

His team couldn't do anything but nod.

"Good. Now, get into the jeeps, we need to settle you in into your new quarters."

They all dutifully climbed in into different jeeps and looked around at the base on the drive through.

Jaune kept an eye out for security systems, places where patrols moved, and places where there was an unusual concentration of guards. Each and everything would be a barrier to him when he had to go out as a Promethean. Any stranger inside a heavily guarded military base would be shot on first sight, no questions asked. He didn't want to fight the entire base on his own for obvious reasons.

They finally pulled up to their quarters, a square, tall, unsurprisingly grey building. They were accompanied by a soldier to their rooms, their marked personal bags already inside.

The room was smaller than their dorm at Beacon and not very cozy. It had one window that looked out to the bleak grey and white world outside, snow already starting to collect on the roads outside as a storm moved in.

The weather was something that had surprised Jaune. The sky seemed to be grey and cloudy a solid hundred percent of the time, and the report had told him that the snow came and went with no real pattern.

 _Seems like weather is one thing humans can never seem to predict well, no matter where in the universe they are._

"Well guys, here we are. Time to make this feel like home!" Nora exclaimed, already putting up posters she had brought with her.

"Nora, I don't think it's a good idea to put up AchieveMen posters up in military quarters." Pyrrha's sensible voice spoke up, the girl already finishing up unpacking.

"Why not? It's not like they'll care." Nora waved a hand at the tall girl, already moving to her next poster.

No one said anything more, knowing Nora wouldn't back down from putting her favorite posters up, even though they clashed violently with the grey walls.

When they were almost done unpacking and getting used to their new room, someone knocked on the door and a folder was slid in through the bottom.

Jaune walked over and picked it up, opening it to read the contents. Upon reading the contents his face fell.

"You have got to be kidding me. Really, today? We just got here!" Jaune exclaimed.

His team looked curiously at him as he threw the folder onto the ground.

"What happened Jaune? What's in the folder?" Pyrrha asked curiously, crouching down to retrieve the papers.

"A mission. Ashe assigned us to a Grimm extermination mission on our own. We have to get to the airpads in 30 minutes, full gear." He rubbed his face, trying not to yell. He knew that they all were tired from the flight and were not going to be able to fight at full capacity.

"Jaune, we'll be fine, don't worry. We're not that tired and I'm sure they won't send us on anything too dangerous." Pyrrha laid a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled at her. She was right, they wouldn't give them anything too dangerous, especially since they were just 1st years. Right?

…

Jaune wished he could go back and strangle himself for daring to hope.

They all stood before Major Ashe who was reading them the details of their current mission.

"You four are tasked with infiltrating and destroying a Giant Nevermore nest on Peak Strom, 50 kilometers due east of here. You will be dropped off at Camp 3, the highest camp on the mountain to acclimatize. From there you will follow the trail up to the Giant Nevermore nest we shall mark on your maps."

 _We're going mountain climbing? We're going mountain climbing and fighting at least two adult Giant Nevermore? And here I was thinking they would be merciful._

"Any questions?"

"Yes actually Major Ashe, what is the rating on the Nevermore?" _Please don't be Majors or higher, please don't be Majors of higher, please don't be…_

"The two adult Nevermore are Majors, borderline Ultras, and we have no intel on the juvenile Nevermore." Ashe's voice contained no emotion, as if fighting heavily armored Grimm on a mountain was something she did for breakfast.

"If there are no more questions, report to Airpad 4 for your ride out. Good luck Team JNPR."

They glumly nodded and walked out. Even Nora seemed a little tired after hearing their mission. This was completely alien territory to them, they had never fought in a mountainous setting or against adult Nevermore before. They knew the theory, but the practical application of the theory was something entirely different.

Jaune tuned the world out trying to come up with a plan that would work. He knew that he had to make the Nevermore stay near the ground somehow, otherwise it would just pepper them with its razor sharp feathers from a distance.

They would have to either sneak up and hope to pummel it into the ground, or attempt to pierce the ridiculously thick hide on its back to ground it. Killing it outright was not possible due to the aforementioned hide, and so the only option was to ground it and just keep nickel and diming it until it died.

Pyrrha was the only one among them who could hit a flying target and cause enough damage to stun it. Ren's pistols were good as distractions and for sustained damage and not ideal against a flying Nevermore. Nora's grenades had the potential to miss, and Jaune knew he wouldn't be able to hit the Nevermore with his railgun at that distance.

He discussed the plan forming in his head with his team, taking their inputs and altering the plan to suit it.

"T-minus 2 minutes until drop. JNPR, get ready." The pilot's voice crackled over the Bullhead's intercom.

They were going to be airdropped in, allowing them to get a birds-eye view of the mountain before they landed at the camp. They got in position, putting on parachutes. The drop was too high for them to rely on aura alone.

The door to the outside opened, letting in blast of freezing air that whipped around the cockpit. Nora jumped first, arms splayed out, letting out a big whoop. Ren nodded at him and jumped next, falling much more gracefully than Nora had.

"Hey, my treat when we get out of this, eh?" Jaune said as Pyrrha walked to the edge.

"I'll hold you to it." Pyrrha smiled at him and jumped, falling face first to catch up with the other two. Jaune took one last glance around at the cockpit, steeled himself, and jumped into the icy void.

The view was spectacular. Clouds covered the land, with only the peaks of the mountains poking through the dense layer. The sun shone off them, creating dazzling islands of light in the grey-white ocean of clouds.

Jaune turned and angled himself downwards, wind whipping his hair. He had supplied his team with polarized sunglasses, each containing a basic HUD. They would protect their eyes from the air during the descent and harmfully bright light from the reflections off the snow. They also displayed their auras and relative position of the other three pairs of glasses as long as they were close by.

He reached his teammates and they all turned to accommodate him into their circle. They fell as a group, having done this many times before at Beacon. Hunters received training to act as shock troopers and drop in behind Grimm lines, and part of that was how to drop in as a team.

Jaune motioned, making a slash through the air and tracing four and a half circles with his index finger. The other three gave him the thumbs up and followed him, angling to the left 45 degrees.

The broke through the cloud layer, any moisture quickly pulled off by the speed of their descent. Jaune counted down from five and made a fist, moving it up and down. He saw the three arrange themselves in a staggered row behind him. Nora was off to his left with Pyrrha to his right. Ren was far behind him.

He counted down from ten next and then shook his fist from side to side, indicating the start of the parachute deployment process. A small lead parachute snaked out, slowing him down. The ground got closer underneath him, the terrain hard and unforgiving. Unlike the Emerald Forest, there were no trees here to break his fall in case he wasn't slow enough.

The second parachute deployed, slowing him down to a sufficiently slow speed. Ren fell past him, his second parachute deploying as he passed. He hit the ground and rolled, his twin green guns pointing in every direction making sure the area was clear of Grimm.

Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune landed after him, struggling out of their parachute harnesses. Ren and taken his off before landing and it lay 30 feet away in a pile that he was now gathering up.

"Perfect! That was textbook, well done everyone!" Jaune exclaimed as he stuffed the chutes back in the bag.

It really had been perfect, there were no hard landings, no broken bones, no tangling of parachutes.

They finished gathering up their parachutes and Jaune led them in the direction of the camp. They intended to rest for a bit there, stocking up on Wind crystals to aid in breathing at high altitudes as well as Scorch crystals to keep them warm. Many teams assigned at least one person to be their designated Dust expert, Jaune was JNPR's as Weiss was RWBY's.

…

They left the camp two hours later. It was now about 3 in the afternoon, and they intended to utilize the remaining daylight hours to get to the top of the mountain and slay the beast, retreating by nighttime if they couldn't accomplish it.

The trekked up the mountain, already used to strenuous exercise in their time at Beacon. Their aura bolstered them, providing energy and strength. The picked their way across the rocky slope, taking care to not slip.

They continued on for two hours in silence, not daring to disturb the still air in fear of provoking an attack. The territory they were in was undoubtedly the Nevermore's as there were no Grimm to be seen around.

 _No Grimm means they all must be scared of the stupid bird, which means it's really really big. Whoo._

They made their way towards the glacier the Nevermore had made its nest in. Unlike normal animals, Grimm didn't mind harsh conditions like the cold. There were Grimm near active volcanos, Grimm at the bottom of the ocean, Grimm in the frozen wasteland of the North.

Ren signaled a halt when they got within a hundred meters of the base of the glacier and stopped under a small overhang.

"Scout, go." Jaune whispered as quietly as he could.

Ren nodded and moved off quietly. They sat in silence, getting ready for the fight ahead of them. This one would be their biggest yet, not just in terms of power but in terms of setting. They had never fought on the side of a mountain at such altitudes before, always on comparatively level ground in the Emerald Forest and its surrounding areas.

Ren came back about five minutes later.

"One Giant Nevermore is at the nest, there are about 4 juveniles in the nest, about the size of normal Nevermores."

 _That's a lucky break. Fighting both Nevermore at the same time would have been incredibly difficult._

The report was short and to the point. Jaune nodded, considering his options. They could either attack head on, killing the 5 Grimm before the other Giant Nevermore came, or they could wait to ambush the second when it came in.

"We're attacking now. Plan A-F." Jaune had named each scenario differently based on what they were to do. This plan was an Attack plan, and involved Ren and Pyrrha to Flank the enemy.

The three nodded at him, faces set in a resolute manner. As Jaune followed them out, he couldn't help but feel immensely proud of his team. They all had come far in the months since initiation. Nora had gotten more focused during battle, absolute concentration falling over her. Ren had gotten better at working as a support and Pyrrha had become more of a team player.

Jaune had also grown immensely. He was now as good at combat as many in his class, holding his own in straight combat. When his Dust and gadgets were factored in, he was able to beat the others half the time.

He had become an excellent leader as well, confidently issuing orders and creating plans of attack that factored in everyone's strengths and weaknesses. JNPR had consistently scored first in the strategy category during team matchups in combat class.

Now Jaune was just hoping his plethora of plans accounted for everything that could happen during the battle. If there was something he'd missed, things could end badly for the entire team.

Clearing his mind of the doubt, he focused on the area around him. It looked much the same as the rest of the mountain, rocky and grey, a little steeper than at the camp. Cresting a small ridge, Jaune got his first direct look at the nest.

It was absolutely massive, about 50 feet in radius. Its entirety was black, from its wings to its feet. The distinctive white and red armor plating covered its face and beak as well its underside. Its wings had partial protection along the bones. Each individual plate looked thick and hard to penetrate, like all Grimm of this size.

It was created in a depression in the rock itself, the entire thing lined with large branches and tree trunks carried up from the base of the mountain.

The Giant Nevermore sat in the middle, wings stretched out over the nest. It seemed to be dozing, which was perfect. Jaune pulled his sword out, aiming. He motioned at Pyrrha to go to the other left side of the nest and aim her spear at the Grimm's eyelid in order to hopefully try and keep it shut.

He motioned to Nora next to go to the right side of the nest, telling her to fire a grenade the Grimm's ear in an attempt to deafen it. Ren was send to the far side of the nest to confuse the Grimm even further.

Jaune raised his hand, three fingers raised. Then two. Then one. Then none, and his fist came down. Nora fired her grenade, the explosion echoing off the side of the mountain. The Grimm woke with a jerk, only to have the grenade hit the back of its head. Its head bent forward and Pyrrha's spear sank into the corner of its eyelid, pinning it in place temporarily.

It roared as Ren's guns fired into the base of its neck, the quiet boy standing atop the Giant Nevermore's back. Jaune aimed at the now exposed juveniles and fired the railgun at the first to react. The explosive round caught the Nevermore under its outstretched wing, tearing the whole thing off and slamming it into its parent.

The massive Nevermore jumped into the air, trying to shake Ren off. It arched its back and beat its wings, the massive muscles in its back tensing and relaxing. Ren's footing stumbled as the area under him pulsed. He fell, but managed to roll away as one of the juveniles shot a barrage of razor sharp feathers at him.

"Nora, take care of the chicks!" Jaune yelled at the orange-haired girl.

"Yes sir, Fearless Leader!" She saluted, happy that silence wasn't a priority anymore. Turning her grenade launcher back into its hammer form, she lunged at the four Nevermore that were now hovering above their nest.

She smashed into the first one and slammed the Grimm to the ground in one hit. It was twice her size but that didn't bother her; her strength was something legendary.

"Ren! Keep on the big bad's tail, try to make it turn around constantly. Pyrrha, the eyes!" Jaune yelled orders, finishing up the reload on his railgun.

He didn't even look to see if his orders were being followed, he trusted the two to carry them out. Ozpin indeed had been right, as usual.

Taking careful aim, he fired the penetrating round at the Nevermore's eye but a last second movement of the head meant it only managed to graze off the beak and fly off the mountain.

Jaune cursed, and deactivated the railgun. It wouldn't do if he ran out of ammo for it on the first Nevermore.

Nora had already dispatched the Nevermore he had shot the wing off, and now was dancing between the four healthy Grimm, on the defensive for the time being. She had it under control.

Pyrrha and Ren were making their actual target circle round and round, beak gnashing furiously. Whenever it tried to leap, Pyrrha slammed her shield into the back of the giant beast's head, dizzying it enough for it to drop. The highest it had managed to go was 20 feet above ground, and that was perfect.

Jaune activated the Scorch Dust in his sword, heating the blade. He dashed forwards, slicing at one of the smaller Nevermore that came close. It squawked at him as he ran by, not bothering to give chase.

Jaune used his aura to propel him into the air and onto the Giant Nevermore's wing. He plunged the blade through a section of the wing, slicing through the tendons with slight difficulty. The wing flapped and Jaune let himself be thrown into the air.

The Nevermore turned to look at him and he threw a smoke grenade into its eye. The grenade spewed acrid smoke as it bounced off the large orb, causing the Nevermore to reflexively shut its eye and snap at the air with its beak. This surprise move hit Pyrrha and sent her flying back over a ridge.

Jaune decided to worry about her later and used his aura to speed up his fall onto the beast, sword outstretched. He landed on the bird-like Grimm's back, sinking the blade deep into its back.

Ren meanwhile was still shooting and cutting at the back of the bird, ducking under its tail as he tried to pierce the rock hard scales on the Grimm's black feet.

Jaune saw Pyrrha's distance from him decrease on his HUD and felt relieved. She was merely thrown far, not off the mountain itself and was now coming back.

He twisted the blade and held on for dear life, feeling a strong case of déjà vu. The Grimm stopped suddenly and then bent its head forward. Jaune used a Shock Crystal to zap the Grimm but it barely reacted. It leaped into the air, flapping its wings violently rising into the air.

 **CAW CAW CAW** , the beast's screech echoed off the mountain as the bird rose higher. It stopped when it was about a hundred feet off the ground and then turned, pulling its wings in close. It reached the top of the arc of its flight and then fell backwards down to Earth, Jaune hanging onto his sword lest he fall and lose it.

As the ground rushed towards him, he thought up a plan and leaped sideways off the Nevermore's back leaving the sword embedded in the flesh.

The Grimm squawked victoriously as it right itself and pulled out of the dive. Jaune landed on the ground, his aura cushioning his fall. Ren and Pyrrha rushed over to him as he got up, a small Jaune-shaped indentation in the ground below him.

"Jaune, where's your sword?" Pyrrha called out worriedly. "I might be able to get it back if you tell me where you saw it last."

"It's stuck in the Nevermore's back, but don't worry, I have a plan." With that Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated. He cast his aura out as a thin pulse, searching for resonance. Dust crystals were the only thing apart from the user's own body that aura resonated well with. Jaune ignored the large feedback the Dust in his pouches gave off and focused on the feedback from where the Nevermore was hovering, staring at them.

He sent out another pulse in that direction, now being able to tell the difference between the types of Dust in the blade and hilt. He had loaded the railgun before deactivating it, and so he set the Shock Crystal to charge the railgun. He next activated a Water crystal to force fill the wound with water, pushing some deep into the Grimm's body.

He then sent a large spike of concentrated aura into a Scorch Crystal that instantly vaporized all the water that surrounded the blade, creating a superheated ball of steam which was just yearning to expand.

 **Pop!**

Jaune opened his eyes and gasped for air, the immense amount of aura he had just spent rushing to him. He stumbled and was caught by Pyrrha almost immediately. He looked up at the Nevermore, feeling his strength return by the second.

It was flailing in the air, trying to recover from the large gaping steaming hot wound it had just received. As it spun in the air trying to lessen the pain from the unseen attacker, Jaune caught a glimpse of a large crater on its back and grimaced. Steam explosions were violent and not pretty.

"Hey Pyrrha, my sword is still in its back, hear the edge of that crater on its back. Could you be so kind as to dislodge it and slice it to the side?"

Pyrrha nodded and raised her hand, a black glow forming around her hands as she concentrated on the sword. Jaune waited patiently, watching the Grimm get more and more agitated.

After 10 seconds, the Nevermore's lower body went limp and it struggled to stay upright, its legs a deadweight swinging below it.

Pyrrha opened her eyes, snatching the sword out of the air and handing it to Jaune. The Nevermore struggled away from them, wings laboriously beating the air. Jaune grabbed his sword and activated the railgun.

He aimed at the Nevermore's wound on the Nevermore's retreating backside and squeezed the trigger, the penetrative round flying through the wound and up into the Nevermore's head. It stopped midflap and its limp dissolving body fell from sight.

"That was well done, everyone, well done. Now we need to lay a trap for the other one, it should be here any minute now." Jaune was going to continue when something struck him as he looked at his HUD.

"Hey guys, what about Nora? She done?" Jaune looked towards Ren.

"Yeah, she's dealing with the last juvenile now. The fight took her over the ridge over there." Ren pointed up the mountain. Yep, Nora was almost at the glacier by now, based on the distance reading on his HUD.

"She knows that she shouldn't disturb the area around the glacier, right?" Jaune looked worriedly at the two. All three faces frantically looked towards the other two in desperate hope that they could assure the group that Nora had indeed remembered the instruction and that she would follow it. No such assurance came and the mood sank lower.

"I think we should worry about the second Nevermore. Jaune, do you have any ideas?"

"Yeah, I think that- "A screech interrupted him as the Nevermore in question flew into view, at a distance for the time being. "Just do the same thing, Pyrrha you take the front, Ren the-"

 **BOOM**

The explosion had occurred behind him and Jaune's fists tightened as he saw the corpse of the young Nevermore fly above them, a chunk missing from its side. Nora bounded up to them, humming a merry tune.

"Hey guys, what's up? You missed a Nevermore by the way. He's heading here so we can get him together!" Nora twirled her hammer in anticipation. Jaune put his face in his hands.

"Nora, didn't I tell you to not to set off any explosions near the glacier?"

"Maybe?"

"And you just set off an explosion. Near a glacier."

"Guys." Ren's quiet voice wasn't heard by the arguing pair.

"I got the Nevermore at least!"

"Nora, I swear I WILL tell Alfred and Ren to not make you any pancakes when we get back to Beacon if you keep this up."

"Guys!" Ren's voice finally got their attention. "That Nevermore just started flying away. Do you have any clue why?"

Jaune looked up in surprise. The Giant Nevermore indeed was flapping away now, curiously enough. Why was it doing that?

"Jaune, I think I found the answer." Pyrrha's voice was strained. "It's heading right towards us; we should start running."

Jaune turned once more to see a huge front of snow and ice coming down the mountain like a huge white blanket.

"No. Yeah. You're right. Let's go."

They all turned and ran down the mountain, hoping to escape the icy wrath that Nora had disturbed. They hopped from rock to rock, trying to keep the distance between them and the advancing front from becoming smaller.

No matter how fast they ran, no matter how much aura they put into their jumps, the front got closer and closer to them. Every time he leaped, he always looked behind him to see the wall inexorably getting closer.

At the rate they were running, the avalanche would soon overcome them all. No amount of aura and Scorch Dust would stop tons of frozen water from turning them into JNPR smoothie. But he had other tricks up his sleeves.

He pulled out his collection of Wind crystals and threw them up in the air, using little blasts of wind to keep them circulating around him. He added in a couple of Scorch crystals to the mix, the collection circulating around him.

He poured aura into the Wind crystals, launching his teammates forwards hundreds of feet. They would survive the fall and get onto their feet soon. Jaune stopped at a ridge, now fully concentrating on the crystals around him, feeling their power, the way they shaped reality, the way the interacted with his aura.

The world seemed to slow down as his adrenaline pumped and his focus got deeper. He used Scorch and Wind together to create a ball of hot gas around him, slowly increasing the size of the ball while keeping the pressure constant. The ball grew bigger the more aura he fed through the crystal. The good thing with air is that it doesn't require much energy to heat up and Jaune used this to his advantage, creating an almost 200-foot wide ball of hot air in the air above him.

His aura levels were dropping quickly; he was at almost 60% now. Once he had a large enough volume of heated gas, he used the wind crystals to shape it into a sheet that stretched 100 feet to either side and was 50 feet thick. Using the remaining air, he shaped a large wedge in front of him that was about 100 feet thick as well.

He braced himself, keeping his aura pumping through the Scorch Dust. By his calculations, the volume of gas contained enough energy to melt and even boil 300-400 kilograms of the snow and ice, which was not nearly enough.

The avalanche finally struck. He opened up the reservoirs of aura he had, every single drop of aura flooding through the Scorch crystals, keeping the air hot enough to melt and boil most of the mass that came through.

 **50% aura remaining.** He needed to keep this up, he was managing to slow the progress of this part of the avalanche and that was all Jaune cared about.

 **40% aura remaining.** Jaune's concentration wavered, but he managed to right himself before anything went wrong.

 **30% aura remaining.** _They must have gotten pretty far by now. Let's see if I can do the same of the pitiful amount of aura I have left._

Jaune stopped the flow of aura through the Scorch Dust and immediately used the Wind to shoot himself off the side of the mountain into open air. He kept the stream up, trying to stay in the air as long as possible.

 **25% remaining. Caution. Your aura reserves are now LOW.**

 _Gee, thanks for telling me man, wouldn't have known 25% meant low, real helpful._

Jaune turned off his stream of aura all the same, letting gravity take complete control. Two Barrier Dust shields and his aura would have to suffice for the landing, he was bone tired. Land passed below him in a blur as his eyelids tried to close, the air streaming past keeping them open.

He flew for a few more seconds then slammed into the ground, carving a deep furrow in the rock. His barriers had broken and his aura had gone down to 21%.

He reached into a pouch and scrambled around for a syringe. Gripping the cylinder, he jabbed it into his mid-thigh, depressing the plunger. His back arched as the adrenaline flowed through his blood stream, the feeling not dissimilar to an electric shock. His muscles clenched and unclenched and he felt as if he was being pumped full of energy. Without his aura he wouldn't ever have attempted something like this as the risk of permanent damage, even death, was far too high.

But now with this benefit of aura, he had synthesized some adrenaline and stored it in syringes as an emergency boost for his body. Using it was dangerous, and would lead to problems once the surge of energy went away, but it was nothing his aura couldn't handle.

He climbed out of the impromptu ditch he found himself in and staggered his way down the mountain towards his teammates.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	14. Grimm Revelations

**Jaune Arc**

Jaune trudged into the camp after twenty minutes of jogging down the mountain. He walked through the collection of empty tents to reach one of the two tents his team had been assigned.

He opened the door to his tent and stepped in. Ren was sitting on his sleeping bag, legs crossed and eyes closed. On hearing the zipper, he opened his eyes, which widened when he saw who had stepped in.

"That was incredibly stupid Jaune." Ren's voice was calm as usual, though there were undercurrents of concern. "But I understand why you took the risk. That avalanche would've gotten to us all if you hadn't done whatever it was you did."

Jaune nodded, acknowledging the stupidity of facing down an avalanche by himself. He appreciated Ren's understanding of his motives and not berating him. The only reason he hadn't gone to Pyrrha and Nora's tent yet was to avoid being yelled at. He had no strength in him for that.

Ren pulled his scroll out and typed something, then put it back in his pocket. Jaune groaned. All his good thoughts towards Ren evaporated like water under a summer sun. The only people Ren would be texting were the people he didn't want to see right now.

"Ren, I'm just going to sleep now. Don't wake me up till tomorrow morning, under any circumstances. That's an order." Jaune didn't wait for a response. His body slipped into the sleeping bag and his mind blanked upon contact with the pillow.

…

He woke up in his tent, feeling a million times better. He cast his hand out to the side for his scroll and paused when it splashed into something liquid. He furrowed his eyes. Had Ren spilled something? Whatever it was, it was definitely more viscous than water.

He sat up, bringing his arm forwards to examine his hand and nearly jumped into the side of the tent in fright. His hand was covered in dripping, thick, red blood.

His head shot left, to where his hand had encountered the blood, and his eyes widened unconsciously. A pool of blood was gathering in the middle of the tent, a red trail leading to Ren's bed.

Jaune would've shot up and ran over if alarm bells hadn't gone off in his head. Blood didn't stay liquid for long in contact with air. There wasn't any sign of a struggle, so whatever it was that had hurt Ren had a way to get past aura and was nearby.

Jaune moved to Ren's unmoving and silent bag, holding his breath. He touched the cold and clammy hand hanging out of the bag, the fingers bloody. He unzipped the bag and saw Ren's calm face staring up at him. His eyes were wide and shocked, staring up at the ceiling.

He continued unzipping the bag, uncovering a massive chest wound. It was an understatement to even call it a wound. It looked as if the attacker had scooped his chest out with a shovel. The organs were all mushed up and the blood vessels lining the gaping hole were full of blood.

Jaune turned away from the boy, equal parts repulsed and confused. Something had obviously surprised Ren and shredded his aura like tissue paper, but had made no noise. The blood was still moving slightly, which definitely shouldn't have happened. The tiny amount of blood in the veins should have become a gel within seconds, yet it hadn't.

 _Something is really wrong here, and it's not my dead teammate._

Jaune moved back to his side of the tent and picked up his scroll. It was out of power. That definitely shouldn't have happened, he would've known if the Dust inside had run out.

Jaune unzipped the tent, making as little noise as he could. He stepped out into the open mountain air and glanced around at each tent. None of them seemed damaged in any sense, appearing much the same as they had yesterday.

The sky was red now, which was in itself not that weird. It was indeed early morning. Though there was definitely something off about it. Unnerved, he walked to the girls' tent and unzipped it, stepping in.

Here he saw much the same scene, blood oozing from the bags. Jaune decided not to look at them, one bloody corpse was enough for a day.

There was something else wrong: his reaction. He felt eerily calm about the entire scenario, as if having your entire team murdered in their sleep was an inconvenience. He tried to summon any emotion forth, anger, sadness, grief, even happiness. None came. Even his confusion was muted, as if he was merely interested in the cause of the murders, not the actual deed itself.

He exited the tent, trying to figure out what was going on. He looked up as he exited and almost froze. He wasn't on the mountain anymore, but rather in an airship. Spinning around, he saw only an empty wall where he was sure the tent had just been.

He still felt no surprise, just a mild piquing of his interest. The airship seemed to be flying based on the clouds streaking by, though he couldn't hear the sound of any engines or even the wind.

He looked out the window as the buildings, for that's what the blurs were, moved past, each one missing large chunks of itself in different locations, not unlike the scene in Mountain Glenn.

 _Not unlike the first vision I had, way back when._

He spoke into the air, "Alright, what's the deal this time? Want to show me more death and destruction?"

A mirthless laugh filled the airship. The ship seemed to slow slightly and the buildings flew past slower.

"That took you entirely too long, though I think it can be taken as a compliment. First time in millennia I've had to actually concentrate on forming the illusion you know."

"Look, I really don't care whether you worked hard or not, I want to know why you brought me to the apocalypse. Again." Jaune could feel slightly more emotion, as if the presence of the voice had given him that ability back, if only slightly.

"I was right about you, it seems. You really are quite feisty. Reminds me of why I spent the effort on this little chat." The words' effect was changed considerably by the harsh, cold, and hard voice that spoke the words. It seemed as if each word was created from ice, their only intention to stab and torture.

"So what do you want to talk to me about this time? Last time was all those chess analogies and anti-Ozpin banter. Heads up, I didn't buy it. Ozpin seems like a good guy, and I really don't trust you, what with all the 'death and gloom' theme you have going on as the background to our chats."

The voice stayed silent, but Jaune could feel that the owner was scrutinizing him silently.

"Honestly, why do you even care about Ozpin? If you're so powerful that you can contact me and create these illusions, why not carry out whatever plan it is you have? On that note, what is your plan, your point? Why are you contacting me? Who are you?" With each word, Jaune's voice rose, emotion flowing back to him.

"Who I am is of no concern to you Jaune. Knowing my identity will not help you prevent the scenarios that I show you. Vale will be destroyed in the upcoming war. Your teammates will be killed in worse ways than what I showed you. Atlas will be overrun, its army being naught but paper in front of the armies of Grimm. Everyone you know will die. Preventing that is your goal Jaune."

"Hey, alright, let's say what you say is true and there is an apocalypse coming. How do I know you're not the one behind it? You're the only one who seems to have any knowledge of this potential future."

"As I said last time Jaune, that is the whole point of me putting my time into this. You can't trust anyone on their word, no matter how genuine they seem. How much do you really know Ozpin? He just sent you and your team away from Beacon for an indefinite length of time, possibly months. Do you really think he's doing this for you? Do you think his entire gambit with giving you a lab and getting your name in with Ironwood was a kindness? Jaune you are naught but a pawn in this game of his, being ordered around by the King. Manipulated and pushed, eventually sacrificed."

Jaune stood silently, absorbing and reflecting upon the voice's words. All the doubts that he had been harboring about Ozpin came rushing back to him. The voice's words were reasonable enough, and worse, they made sense. Every action of Ozpin's could be traced to a desired outcome. Was it too much of a leap to think that all of the kindness he had shown was a sham to manipulate Jaune?

"I see I have made my point. There is no one in this world you can trust but yourself and your power, which is where your problem lies. You have grown complacent at Beacon, thinking you have the world under your thumb. But your team only barely managed to defeat one Ultra Nevermore before starting an avalanche. Does that fact not worry you?"

Jaune had to admit the voice was right. He had grown complacent and overconfident in his abilities over the past couple months, not making any real improvements other than regular practice. Even his weapons were only tweaked. His Dust use was still frighteningly basic, not having explored or practiced it extensively.

"What are you suggesting?"

"It's simple. Practice. You show potential with your aura, your ease of Dust usage is rare. Not many people can manipulate their aura with the ease you show. This potential intrigues me, and I will not see it go to waste. I will contact you once more Jaune, and we shall begin our practice sessions here in illusions of my creation. I shall teach you things that no one in Remnant can. You shall grow as powerful as you deserve to, under my tutelage. Be ready Jaune, I shall not tolerate mediocrity. Farewell."

Jaune processed this information as the world melted around him in a swirl of color. He fell backwards into something soft as the world went black. The voice was going to train him and teach him things that 'no one in Remnant' could. That wording seemed to suggest she was somehow from outside Remnant, which intrigued Jaune. Was she similar to him? Someone who was sent to Remnant from afar?

Whoever she was, she was the one in power. She could trap him inside the illusion for as long as she wished, and Jaune had no plan of saying no to someone like that. Plus, she was offering him free training in Dust and Aura, and who was he to refuse her? The whole deal was fishy as hell but there was nothing he could do.

He opened his eyes and cast them around the inside of the tent. Ren was up and packing the sleeping bag up. Jaune's eyes lingered on the bag, the same bag that Ren's mutilated corpse had lay in. Jaune understood why the voice had shown him that scenario, and what its significance was.

Jaune hadn't felt much during that point, but the lack of emotion had solidified those images in him mind, and he wouldn't forget them anytime soon. As the images played back in his head, he realized that his choice had been made for him as soon as the vision had started. If his teammates died because he wasn't strong enough to protect them, he would never forgive himself.

"Can I call Nora and Pyrrha over now that you're awake?" Ren's voice brought Jaune back to the present.

"Yeah, sure. Let's signal Major Ashe for pick up." Jaune stood up, stretching the soreness from his limbs as he stepped towards the zipper of the tent, grabbing a flare from his backpack on the way. He tossed it out, activating the Dust inside. He started packing as Ren messaged Nora and Pyrrha, who arrived within seconds, as if waiting for Ren to send the message.

"Jaune! You've had your sleep, so no excuses. First question, are you okay?" Pyrrha's voice was full of genuine concern as usual, and Jaune couldn't help but feel guilty about not talking to them yesterday.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little bit of Aura exhaustion that sleep took care of, nothing to worry about." Jaune stuffed his sleeping bag into its carry case.

"That's good. I was worried when you didn't show up after we were hurled forward. That was you wasn't it? You're the one who threw us off the mountain." That was a statement.

"Yeah, I needed to get you guys away from the avalanche as fast as possible. Sorry if you guys got hurt from the fall, but I had to buy you guys time." Jaune moved around the tent, making sure nothing was left behind.

"How did you manage to get away from it? It was gaining fast and you somehow managed to stop it from running us down." Nora sounded worried, but excited at the same time.

"I simply created a very large barrier of superhot air using Dust. It melted and evaporated the snow and ice as it passed through." Jaune turned to face his team, who didn't even look shocked at the declaration. They had come to expect these types of things from Jaune and took it in stride, which was slightly disappointing.

"Jaune, you really need to start telling us when you're going to be doing this sort of stuff." Pyrrha just looked at him with a resigned look on her face.

"Yeah! We want to do cool stuff too!" Nora threw her hands in the air.

"Nora…"

"Sorry Ren!" Nora put her arms down with a slightly guilty look on her face.

Jaune and Pyrrha both smiled at this exchange. This was how the team was normally, and Jaune wanted it to stay this way.

…

The four were standing in a briefing room with Major Ashe and two other soldiers, having been brought there immediately after the Bullhead extracted them from the mountain.

One of the soldiers turned on the projector in the room and dimmed the lights. A video started playing, showing Jaune's team climbing up the mountain from an aerial point of view. It made sense for a surveillance vehicle to be posted to observe them, this was supposed to be a test mission for the team.

They watched as they took cover under the overhang while Ren scouted, then they watched as they took their positions to fight the creature. Ashe decided to comment on at this point.

"Excellent positioning Jaune, putting Ren behind the Nevermore and Pyrrha in front was a good tactic"

Jaune simply nodded as everyone continued to watch. The attack started and Ashe kept commenting on their attacks.

"Pyrrha you let your shield dip slightly in the air there, letting the beak get slightly further closer, making you abandon the attack. Keep an eye on that in the future."

"Ren you need to work on your offensive, it is quite useful as a distraction against such targets, but that's all it is. Any bigger and your attacks will be nothing but an annoyance to the Grimm."

"Nora, you need to show off a little less. I counted at least 12 times that you could have landed a hit on an enemy, but you missed because you decided to add flair to the attack."

"Jaune, you need to participate in the battle more. You're a four-person team, not three and a leader."

Jaune noted this feedback mentally. Ashe was right, and he was going to be focusing on these topics during practice.

Ashe had given off an air of strict disappointment when Nora had triggered the avalanche and the orange haired girl had shriveled slightly. They watched as they fled down the mountain, the dissolving bodies of the Grimm quickly covered by the flood of snow.

They watched as Jaune stopped and closed his eyes, and as the other three were hurled forwards. The camera tracked them for a few seconds, making sure they were okay, then turned back to Jaune.

He simply stood there, eyes closed, hands slightly raised. Glowing Dust crystals surrounded him as the avalanche got closer. The air started shimmering around him, the effect occurring in a wider and wider range as time went on. Jaune stood there unmoving as the air continued to shimmer as if it was a mirage, extending for hundreds of feet all around him.

The avalanche got closer and Jaune started glowing as soon as the avalanche came in contact with the shimmering chunk of air, the snow melting and evaporating. His aura was now fully visible, tendrils swirling all around him. The tendrils formed loops between him and each crystal, pulsing to a constant rhythm.

 _Goddamn, so happy someone recorded that, it was pretty amazing. Should I ask for a copy? Would that look bad?_

The video continued, catching him flying through the air, crashing, and then walking back to camp. The video ended and the lights came back on.

"Jaune, report to the Research Wing immediately. The rest of you are dismissed. Report to the practice fields at 1500 for individual exercises."

…

Jaune had left his team to go to the Research Wing of the facility, unsurprisingly a huge grey rectangular building. He was allowed inside by a robotic soldier standing guard. Jaune had first been impressed by the fact that Atlas could produce such advanced robots, but then realized that even the most advanced one could only do the most basic things like shoot at a predesignated target. Human soldiers were still needed for anything that required thinking. Obviously either Atlas didn't have the ability to program such AI, or it couldn't miniaturize the technology needed to run the AI.

Jaune was directed to the third floor by the assistant, to 'Lab 2'. Jaune took the elevator up, humming a merry tune. This was where he was most comfortable, the clean, precise environment of a lab. Nothing that could kill you except your own stupidity and the laws of nature. No stupid screaming huge birds, no rushes of snow and ice threatening to swallow you, just you and your work.

Jaune knocked on the door and waited. There were sounds of two people speaking, one's voice a bit low and the other's higher pitched, like a young girl's. The conversation stopped when Jaune had knocked and now footsteps approached the door.

The door swung open and Jaune took a look at the man who had opened the door. He was thin and balding, around middle-age. He was wearing a lab coat that went down to his mid-calf and had small instruments in each of his pockets.

Overall, he looked like a stereotypical scientist, but what startled Jaune were his piercing blue eyes. They were shrewd and seemed to stare right into you, as if deconstructing you and finding out what made you tick.

"You must be Jaune Arc. Welcome, welcome. Come on in." The man gestured into the lab. Jaune walked in and the man closed the door behind him.

"I am Victor Polendina. I must admit, I have been quite taken with some of your designs, especially that motion tracking sentry gun. I have seen and built some similar designs but none have managed to get the accuracy you have managed. Mind sharing some of your secrets?" The man spoke fast, guiding Jaune past piles of parts and various machinery, deeper into the lab.

Jaune was taken back by the man's directness but quickly recovered. "I'm glad you liked my designs Mr. Polendina. I would love to work with someone of your renown." Jaune had heard of a Polendina during his research into Atlas. From what little the Vale CCT had, Polendina was one of the top scientists in Atlas, leading multiple teams at once, while also working closely with Ironwood.

"Glad to hear it." Victor led him into a small-ish room that contained two couches and a TV. Jaune took the seat that Victor gestured at. Victor produced two glasses of water and a jug from an adjoining room and offered it to him.

Jaune took the glass and waited for the older man to start talking. Victor took a sip and looked at Jaune. "So I saw the stunt you pulled off on the mountain. I must admit, seeing that level of control over Dust as a first year intrigues me. How long have you been working with the material?"

"Less than a year, around 9 months actually." Jaune said, trying to appear nonchalant. He really didn't want Victor to start questioning about his life prior to Beacon, it was tiring having to build and maintain a convincing web of lies.

Victor almost spit his drink out at that. Wiping his mouth, he managed to croak out, "Less than a year?!" He coughed and seemed to calm down slightly. "Most people don't have the level of skill you have with Dust even after ten years of practice."

"Well, Mr. Polendina, most people don't manage to impress world-renowned scientists and companies with their handmade weapons, now do they?" Jaune smiled, and Victor laughed, throwing his head back.

"You're goddamn right they don't!" He continued to chortle for a bit. Jaune awkwardly took a sip of water. _It wasn't that funny Victor._

"Now, I needed a laugh. There have been way too many negative vibes lately, what with the increased number of Grimm and White Fang attacks. You do know about them, don't you?"

Jaune nodded. Rumors had been spreading that the White Fang were gearing up for something big, either this year or the next. Grimm attacks had been gaining more air time on the news. People had been moving into Vale from the countryside at an increased rate, no doubt scared that they would be the next targets of an attack. This had spread Hunters out over a larger area, having to patrol more villages and protect the influx of refugees.

"Atlas has been trying to make autonomous robots for ages now, anything from sentry turrets to fully robotic soldiers, though we haven't managed to create any AI sophisticated and efficient enough to work on a battlefield. That is part of the reason why I requested this meeting."

 _Sounds easy enough. I mean I already built one functioning semi-human robot already, I could help this plan along quite easily. But then again, I have to deal with budgets and making the design easy to build. Should be fun._

"That would be an interesting challenge Mr. Polendina. When can we start?"

Victor had a gleam in his eye. "As soon as you're ready."

…

Jaune found that working with someone like Victor Polendina was some of the most fun he'd ever had. Victor was one of the only people Jaune had seen that had some truly unique ideas and wasn't afraid of sharing them. It helped that he had the brains to turn those ideas semi-plausible.

They spent the rest of the day talking about drawbacks and advantages of different ideas. Six pages were filled with notes and diagrams by the time they were done and Jaune had left.

Jaune described his activities to his team mates, who had spent the day on the practice field sparring. They didn't seem jealous of him going off alone into labs while they had to practice, but then again they hadn't been jealous the entire year.

Jaune had just climbed into bed when he realized he still hadn't contacted Raven. He groaned and shot her a message about his position, hoping that she wouldn't reply for a long time.

No such luck for him as the reply arrived within the minute.

 _Meet me at the attached coordinates._

The coordinates she had sent were inside the camp. If she could get into the camp, why not just give him a portal while he was alone? He said his goodnights and slipped into the shell of Prometheus I, deciding to question her in person.

He opened his eyes, getting used to the cramped surroundings. He had labeled the box as fragile, knowing it would be kept on the ground with no crates on top. He pulled a latch near his hand and the top of the crate was detached from the rest, allowing Jaune to climb out. He was fully armored and ready for combat and had his sword ready to go beside him. This sword was different from the one he usually wore. It was shorter and leaner, and could fold down into a dagger for when things got too close for comfort. The sword had Dust in it, as did all the Promethean swords.

Instead of the railgun his usual sword had, this one was outfitted with microneedles along the blade that could inject or squirt the chemicals hidden inside the blade. Jaune had stocked the insides with everything from anesthetics to pressurized gasses. Pressurized air may not seem to be very deadly, but when the air gets injected in your blood stream, everything from nausea to death has the chance of occurring. The human body is pretty scary that way.

He also had a silenced pistol outfitted with both knockout rounds and lethal rounds. The silencer was a prototype he had built himself that would not only absorb the sound of the gun, but also the gasses emitted. The silencer would then spread the heat over its entire surface area, making it difficult to spot him on thermal camera.

He was wearing complete black that would help him blend into the background when seen by normal vision or infrared. The cloth was infused with small amounts of Ice Dust that were connected to aura crystals. They were put in equilibrium with the average temperature of Atlas's air before Jaune had left Beacon. What that meant was that whenever the temperature of the aura crystal got too high, it would spontaneously start leaking aura into the Ice crystal, which would absorb heat from the body suit, which would in turn off the aura crystal when the temperature got to the correct amount.

Jaune stole his way out of the warehouse and through the compound, avoiding patrols and open areas. He reached the indicated building and stood in the shadows in between it and the next one. He messaged Raven and managed not to yelp when her portal appeared mere milliseconds after the message was sent.

"Raven! Give just a little bit more warning next time!" Jaune hissed at her. He subtly activated some wind dust to create eddies around them. They would distort and dampen the sound slightly, making their voices sound less prominent among the ambient noise.

She just stared at him balefully with her mask's four eyes. After all this time, she had still never taken that mask off in front of him. He felt slightly perplexed at that. Did she not trust him? That didn't seem to be the case since she was pretty open about their plans and such, never keeping things to a need to know basis.

He decided to pursue the matter later and instead focus on the present. "Sorry, just a little tense sneaking across a large military base. Anyways, you said you had something planned?"

She looked away from him, contemplating something. Jaune leaned on the side of the building, watching her. She finally seemed to come to a decision and turned back to him. "Jaune before I tell you, I want to give you fair warning."

"Oh? Where was this warning before Mountain Glenn?" Jaune grinned.

"Jaune, I'm serious. This mission, it's not just going to be dangerous while we're carrying it out. If we're caught or recognized, it has the potential of permanently altering our reputations." Raven paused for a second. "Or yours, rather."

"That doesn't seem very bad, the Prometheans are already infamous. How could we change their reputation from a bunch of criminals who sell weapons? That's all they do, and I've worked to maintain that."

"They could be regarded as terrorists."

Raven said this so matter-of-factly that Jaune had trouble believing she was serious. Terrorists? What the hell were they going to do that would give them that title?

"You're not suggesting helping or joining the White Fang are you? Because if so, I'm out. It's one thing to sell them weapons, it's another to actively help them in their battles." _Even the CIA weren't bold enough to do that._

"No, it's not that exactly. It's more about destroying a corrupt company that abuses its workers. I think you know the one I'm talking about."

Jaune's face whitened under his helmet. Raven had an entire plan for taking down the Schnee Dust Company? How long had she been thinking about this? Jaune couldn't imagine the amount of international attention they were going to get if they even took one step in that direction.

"You're saying, let me get this straight, you're saying that you plan on taking down the most influential company in all of Remnant, with just you and me. We're going to be blowing stuff up and killing people and all sorts of shenanigans, all to take down a company that reportedly keeps its workers dependent on it for survival?"

He ranted on before Raven could speak. "And when we have gone and destroyed their towns, their mines, their literal armies, we'll have the entire Atlesian army on our tails, not to mention half the hunters this part of the world. The Prometheans are going to be attacked on sight if they were seen by any law enforcement in the kingdoms, their reputation will be down the drain after this, especially after being seen with someone of your reputation, no offense."

Raven raised a hand to interrupt him, but Jaune ignored her. "And if we even get anywhere close to somehow cripple this giant, how is the world going to supply itself with Dust? If supply cuts out for even a day, the kingdoms are going to grind to a halt and there will be mass hysteria! Machines and power will go out like a fused bulb, most transportation will be down, hoarding will be massive, and most people wouldn't be able to afford any amount!"

Raven put her hand over his mouth, shutting him up. Her four red eyes glared at him, like a wolf staring down a sheep. He stared right back, refusing to be cowed. They stared like this for a bit before Raven decided to respond.

"Do you not think that I've thought of all this? Do you not think I've not planned against all the scenarios you have mentioned? When everything goes wrong, your little imaginary band of clowns won't be the only ones affected. Most of the world's first impression of me would be me committing acts that would cause me to be dubbed as an extremist. I won't be able to live in society anymore even if we manage to pull it off. And I see the question in your eyes Jaune. Why am I doing this? I'll tell you why I'm doing this."

Raven stepped away from him and pulled out her scroll, pulling up the photos app. She opened a picture and showed it to him. It was a small faunus child being beaten by a guard with a baton while someone who looked like her mother was being held by two other guards.

"The girl didn't mine enough Dust for the day, so the guard reached to hit her. Her mother stopped him, and then the two other guards held her and forced her to watch as they beat her daughter." Raven's voice was emotionless, which made it even angrier-sounding.

She swiped to the next picture which showed 10 scrawny, haggard looking faunus in a room that looked like it was only meant for two. They stood over one of their own who was curled on the ground in immense pain.

"The living conditions are absolute filth. Dozens die every weak from preventable diseases, all because the SDC doesn't have an ounce of humanity in it."

The next picture showed a massive hole that had large white bundles being dropped in by a crane. Some of the bundles were split open in the pit and Jaune could see limbs hanging out of the cloth.

"Mass graves for those who die in the mines."

This continued for ten minutes, with Raven showing him picture after picture of atrocity, each at an angle that suggested that the picture was taken hastily and sneakily. Jaune couldn't tear his eyes from the screen as image after image of what would be considered 'crimes against humanity' on Earth flashed by. He was flabbergasted. All the Dust he had used, the Dust he relied on in his fighting style, all of it was mined in this way? Slave labor? Jaune felt sick.

He closed his eyes, trying to forget the face of a little boy who had been shot as he tried to run away. That had been the only video in the bunch. The boy had managed to climb up a guard wall when a guard's bullet found his back. He had fallen right in front of the cameraman and had stared into the lens as if cursing the world.

"Now do you see why I risk it all for this plan? Some people say that there is no evil in this world other than the Grimm. I say that what they are doing here is worse than the Grimm! When I was a young huntress, all I wanted to do was slay Grimm and save people. That was what I even told you when I met. I still do think the same thing, because I think I know why they are called the creatures of Grimm."

Jaune glanced up at Raven. He was curious to hear where this was going.

"Humanity has been calling them that for millennia, the term being translated from language to language as time went on. Etymologists have agreed on one thing about the meaning of the phrase, and that it literally means that these all come from one place of pure hatred and destruction. Many names for this theory were proposed, with Grimm winning out."

Jaune could see where this was going. "So you're saying, you think that the SDC could be influenced by whatever is in Grimm?"

"It's the only reasonable explanation. I have gone undercover into the company, I told you I've been planning this for long. Get this, no one knew where the actual orders were coming from. I was shunted around from help desk to help desk, from department to department. I went as high up as I could, trying to figure out who was giving the damn orders! It couldn't have been Schnee himself, that man is a coward and if he had given the orders himself, there would've been a trail leading to him. Instead, there was an entire branch inside the Schnee HQ in Atlas that is top secret and off limits. No one is ever seen leaving or entering, but with the orders coming from nowhere else in the company, where else could they come from?"

"You're making quite a leap there, Raven. The company may be committing some of the most heinous crimes committable by humans, but saying that it is somehow connected to a theoretical location that is the source of all evil? Isn't that a little farfetched?" Even with his doubts, Jaune knew that there was some element of truth in Raven's theory. The acts committed were terrible, terrible acts. Jaune had heard of some of the horror stories told about the conditions in places like North Korea's prisons, among many others throughout Earth's history.

 _Could that have some influence from this place of Grimm?_ Jaune had read about the philosophies behind many of the world's religions. Many of them had creatures of some kind that were the face of pure evil: devils, demons, rakshasas, Satan, Apep, Chaos, etc. He had originally attributed that to the fact that humankind was built on conflict, on the battle of us vs them, and was trying to create two sides in their philosophies in order to live their lives more easily.

But now he was not so sure. If Raven was right, if there really existed a place such as this Grimm, then that was bad news.

Raven saw the changing expression on his face as he came to the realization. "I see you answered your own question. There must be something in that division that is connected in some way to the Grimm. I don't know how or why it's specifically using the SDC, but I don't think I'm going to let it continue to happen, not while I can still do something about it. So now the question is, are you in?"

Jaune shut his eyes before replying. Was he ready? Was he ready to commit fully to this hare-brained conspiracy to bring down a company that had the backing of the most militarily advanced kingdom in Remnant? Faces flashed before his eyes, the little girl, the man in the room, the little boy. The answer came to him easily then.

"Yes, I'm in."

Raven's stance loosened visibly. "Thank you Jaune. Thank you so much. I knew I could count on you."

Jaune simply smiled in response as Raven stepped backwards through a portal, disappearing from view.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	15. In for a Penny

**Jaune Arc**

The next two weeks of their time in Atlas sped by in a blur. Team JNPR continued to train and practice, getting better and better as a team. They spent each morning doing physical exercises, then spent the afternoon working together, utilizing their strengths and nullifying their weaknesses.

Major Ashe may not have said it out loud, but Jaune could tell that she was proud of their progress. Over their stay, she had become their mentor, helping them work overcome their shortcomings in battle.

Jaune spent each evening with Victor Polendina, working on various improvements and innovations. Jaune was enjoying himself immensely working with the brilliant man.

Today however, Victor seemed to be especially energetic.

"Jaune, come this way. Atlas cleared me to show you a special top-secret project we've been working on." He led an intrigued Jaune through the hallways of the building to the elevator and then down to the basement.

Passing through 4 different security doors, Jaune and Victor made their way into a large room. It was completely filled with large server banks. Lights pulsed and blinked around them as they walked through. The characteristic hum of cooling systems was absent thanks to Ice Dust embedded in the frames.

 _Wonder what this network contains that is so important that Atlas is spending this much effort on keeping it safe?_

Jaune followed Victor along the path through the towers to a computer terminal. They pulled up two of the chairs that were there and sat down facing a large screen. He tapped a few keys and the Atlas logo popped up, pulsing slightly as the terminal booted up.

The logo slid aside, another appearing beside it. It consisted of a bright green silhouette of a sword that had a line cut through its length splitting it in half. The sword expanded from the tip down, then contracted in the middle then expanded again near the base, eventually contracting and becoming circular at the base.

The two logos faded into blackness and a single horizontal line appeared in the middle of the screen, with various debug information and graphs popping up all around it.

"Greetings." An emotionless voice issued forth from speakers behind the screen. The pieces clicked together in Jaune's head. Victor's lamentations about the failures in Atlas's search for an AI soldier that could think for itself, the focus on efficient computing in their sessions together, why Jaune specifically was brought in by Atlas.

 _They're trying to make a sentient robot soldier! If they manage to pull this off, the ethical and social ramifications would be quite severe. If faunus are still so discriminated against in this day and age, what would it be like if sentient robots started roaming the street?_

"How far along are you with this?" Jaune turned his head to look at Victor.

"We have achieved most of the requirements of sentience, though the one thing that we cannot manage to grasp yet is emotion. Other than that, it can pass off as human."

 _So it's Cleverbot's older brother. Not as far along as I thought._

"Hmm. So I'm assuming we shall be focusing our efforts on imparting sentience to it?"

"And somehow get it to operate a human-sized body."

"Easier said than done, huh?"

"Understatement of the year, Jaune." His fellow scientist rubbed his eyes. "There is just no way that we can get the code to run on any computer of that size! There's just too many calculations that have to be done, and as far as we can think, tech just can't that small. Heat buildup would ruin the circuitry, and no amount of Dust engineering is going to help at that scale."

Jaune acknowledged this with a nod. It was true, making things smaller and smaller tended to have many issues; heat dissipation, cost of manufacture, error margins, and problems at the quantum scale. It was theorized that once transistors got smaller than a couple nanometers, electrons would quite literally start tunneling out of the circuitry, which could lead to complications.

There was only one device on Earth that could achieve the definition of sentience and be smaller than a human: the brain. The problem with such a computer is that it used chemical engineering rather than electrical engineering. It stored data as chemicals, it sent messages using chemicals, it even created electricity using chemicals in neurons. It was also a very volatile system as everything relied on the DNA code in the cells. Any slight changes in the code could have terrible consequences, like Parkinson's Disease or Alzheimer's.

There was another slight problem with that and it was that no one, including Jaune, understood how exactly it worked. The rest of the body contained mysteries, but the brain was the most shrouded. It was the most irreplaceable among all the organs, making research on it difficult. You could use heart-lung machines to keep someone alive, but if you damaged their brain they became vegetables, something no one desired.

"What's its name?" Jaune broke the silence that had fallen over them.

"Prototype Sentience Test Being. PSTB for short."

Jaune almost gagged at the name. _Really? That's the best you guys could do? PSTB?_

"How is the er, PSTB going to be used by Atlas if we succeed?"

"Security, mostly. We already have a portion of the army composed of robotic soldiers that have their mission objectives uploaded into them before they are dropped into battle. We intend to make the PSTB and its derivatives into commanders on the field so we can lower the number of active hunters on the frontier."

It certainly made sense to Jaune, but something this vague wasn't satisfactory.

"If we want to create something that is either sentient or approaching sentience, the question isn't about whether we can, Victor. The question changes to whether we should. Now, I'm sure you've been asked a lot about this from various committees and such, but are you sure you want to usher in an age of artificial life?" Jaune had no reservations against it, but he had to know that Victor didn't either. He didn't want a change of heart later on when it was time to activate the AI.

"I'm sure Jaune." Victor looked resolute, confidence in his eyes. Jaune simply nodded, trusting his word.

"You do realize we are talking about a full-fledged person right? It will be like a child when we activate it, and I don't take the Atlesian military to be the best place for a child." Jaune got to the point. He was less worried about the bot itself, and more worried about the effects of being surrounded by the discipline of the military. It wouldn't do to make the only life the robot knew a military one.

"I was planning on raising it as a normal human child. It would be completely independent of the military routines and would owe no allegiance to anyone. Once it becomes mature enough to make its own decisions, we shall let it make the decision of whether or not it wants to be a soldier. If it accepts, then we can make copies of it and flash it onto other bodies to fulfill the requirements Atlas has posed."

 _Sounds good enough,_ Jaune thought. If Victor really was committed to this plan, Jaune had nothing against it. It was sound and now the only problems they faced were the technical kind. And Jaune was more than competent at dealing with those.

"Well then Victor, let's get started."

…

A month passed, and Jaune and Victor went through lists of ideas on improving the AI. It still made lots of mistakes that a human wouldn't have. It wasn't efficient at decision making in the scenarios that they fed in.

Jaune was bone-tired by the end of the week, the constant team and solo practices along with the mental strain of working on the PTSB taking their toll. He plopped down into bed and closed his eyes in anticipation of blissful rest.

 _Ahhhhh this mattress is the best._ Jaune's last thought faded from his head and his mind started to go blank. _Wait, why is it so hot? And is that smoke?_

Jaune's eyes shot open and his nose sniffed the air confirming the scent of smoke. The air was unnaturally and uncomfortably hot and was getting thicker with smoke by the second.

He activated a Water and Ice crystal, both of which were on his side table. The Ice crystal cooled the air while the Water crystal created water that absorbed the smoke. He used a Wind crystal to throw the water around as well as clear the air around him.

Jaune checked in on his teammates but they weren't there. _A disaster and my teammates in danger? This seems familiar._

Jaune gathered his stuff and strolled out, the Wind crystal circulating the air around him and keeping the smoke at bay. He opened the door to see the entire base in flames, with shells of robots and bodies of soldier scattered around. Jaune ignored the large ship that had crashed into the main headquarters. He ignored the large claw marks in the sides of the buildings that were still standing.

"Alright, what's up, mysterious voice?" Jaune leaned back on the closed door to their dorm, examining his nails.

"You've finally learned, Jaune. That is indeed good." The voice sounded like it had the past two times, cruel and cold.

"You said you were going to teach me things?" Jaune managed to keep the excitement out of his voice. He knew how powerful Dust was, and if the voice could teach him how to control some of that power…

"But first we need to test your current prowess in battle."

Grimm roared, seemingly in response to the statement. Jaune hefted his sword, eager to fight.

"What happens if I die?"

"You lose your aura and your friends wake up to see you as a vegetable."

"Huh." That didn't sound fun to Jaune.

The first wave of enemies descended upon Jaune, all young Beowolves. He hacked and slashed, sending heads and severed limbs flying through the air. The next wave contained Major Beowolves, which posed no threat. Jaune's sword was sharp and pierced through the armor like a knife through butter.

The next wave of Ultra Beowolves was a bit harder, as their armor was on par with Ursi. Jaune danced around, consuming small amounts of aura to stay agile and strengthen his blows.

The waves kept on coming, and Jaune had to marvel at the realism of the illusion the voice could create. Each enemy felt like it was actually there, each sword strike sending shock up his arm. The fluid splashing from the lethal wounds that Jaune inflicted on the Grimm felt real enough.

Jaune fought for half an hour, progressing from just Beowolves to a mixture of Beowolves and Ursi. It had taken two teams of Hunters-in-training to kill four ursi, but now Jaune was dispatching each Ursa without a thought, sticking to a routine he had built up.

He would charge at the bear-like Grimm and dodge the powerful strikes, getting close to the chest. He would drag his sword across its chest and roll out of the way as the bear went to all fours. An aura-assisted jump later, Jaune would stab his sword into the back of the Ursa's neck and slice it off.

After an hour, Jaune's aura was down to 70%, the aura boosting and constant fighting taking their toll. Jaune had started to use Dust at around the 45-minute mark, freezing and burning the Beowolves to prevent them from overwhelming him.

After sending a spike of Ice through a half-dead Beowolf, Jaune took a small break, kneeling to regain his breath.

"Tired already?" The voice was mocking, as if disappointed in the fight.

"I fought a horde for an hour, give me a break." Jaune slowly trickled aura into his body to rejuvenate his tired muscles, making sure not to use too much.

Jaune balled his fists, concentrating on focusing his aura around him. He felt the familiar flood as it washed through his body, the energy refreshing him. He started to glow, a thick white sheet of aura surrounding his body. From his experiments, Jaune had seen that this manifestation of aura was a physical thing that light sensors could pick up on. It had intrigued him, but he hadn't been able to do any more experiments with it due to the Atlas trip.

He let the aura run over his body, speeding up the healing process. This technique was something that Hunters did between battles to speed up healing, at the cost of being completely vulnerable while doing it. The aura that was summoned was not usable for defense, only as a way to heal your body. Jaune had practiced activating and deactivating this state quickly, and knew that he would be able to deactivate it before any more Grimm attacked.

"Alright I'm ready now." Jaune sprang up to his feet, ready for any more attacks.

"Since you're all refreshed now, I think a challenge is in order." The voice almost contained a hint of a laugh, the type of laugh that chills you to the bone.

"Let me guess, a big bad?" Jaune knew that he could take anything up to a Major Nevermore, maybe ten Ultra Ursi. He settled further into his stance, expecting either a flying or a ground attack.

What he was not expecting was an attack from underneath. The ground erupted outwards under him, throwing him upwards among chunks of concrete and rock. He twisted in the air to face downwards, straight into the large mouth of a huge worm of some sort. The mouth was cavernous, hundreds of inwards curving teeth lining the inside. Its throat pulsed and a glob of some black liquid flew out. Jaune sent some fire from a Scorch crystal and then used Wind to push himself to the side. The liquid caught on fire almost immediately and exploded, sending small globs flying in all directions.

Some of the flaming goo splattered on his falling form and his aura started draining quickly. The liquid burned even brighter, as if in response to the aura it was dissipating. Jaune scooped it up and threw it away from him before it could do anymore damage. He landed on the ground, aura absorbing the shock, and rolled to avoid some of the falling liquid.

 _So it absorbs Aura? It seemed to use the Aura to power the flames, so it must be able to channel it somehow. But how?_

Jaune didn't have time to think anymore as the creature's mouth started spewing the liquid in even larger quantities, blocking the view of the sky. Jaune set up a cyclone with Wind around him, flinging the black liquid away as it rained down. The ground was now covered in the stuff and the only clear area was around Jaune.

Jaune studied the creature's head. He had never seen this type of Grimm before in any book he read so far. Its head was bulbous and round, a bit like a bowl that had tumors all around the outside. The mouth was made of 8 flexible mandibles with skin flaps in between. There were small feeler tentacles on the side of the head that waved around in the air. The creature didn't have any eyes that Jaune could see, which supported the theory that the tentacles were feelers.

He used the wind to sling Scorch at the monster, pouring aura into the crystal. It arced towards the head, glowing dangerously orange. It had begun to erupt from the aura contained inside when the mouth turned and closed around it, swallowing it whole. An orange glow spread across the black skin of the beast and it roared.

 _Did that do nothing? What is this thing?_

Jaune increased the speed of the cyclone around him and readied his railgun. When it was charged, Jaune threw another crystal into the maw and fired his railgun just as the mouth opened to swallow the crystal. The projectile struck the beast near its throat, the black ichor of the Grimm erupting from the wound. The monster roared and Jaune pressed his advantage, jumping into the mouth of the creature, sending high pressure bursts of air into the creature's throat to minimize the black aura-draining liquid from coming out. He held onto a tooth and slashed wildly, severing teeth and making deep gashes in the flesh.

The creature threw his head around wildly before closing its mouth. Jaune set an explosive in a particularly deep wound and jumped out before the mouth could fully close. He arced away as the side of the mouth blew out, spraying chunks of meat and fluid. He charged another railgun shot and fired through the wound, severing a hole in the other side of the mouth.

He leaped forwards at the thrashing head and stabbed his sword into the side of the mouth, throwing all sorts of grenades into the wound before leaping off as the beast retreated back into the ground. A plume of dust and a shaking of the earth later, Jaune peered into the hole to see the unmoving form of the creature plugging up the hole it had tried to hide in.

He sighed in exhaustion and sat down on the ground, breathing deeply. He had pushed his legs hard with all the jumping and aura was giving it a once over.

"And that was just a baby." The voice was back.

"Say what now? That huge ass thing was a baby? Like not even juvenile?" Jaune felt shocked at the fact. How big would an adult be?

"Oh yes, about a month old out of 40 years of maturation?"

Jaune put his head in his hands. He had pushed himself to defeat a mere baby Grimm? Maybe he did really need more power as urgently as the voice had said.

"What's that liquid? It seemed to absorb my aura and store it, even using it to power the flames. Is it similar to Dust?"

"It is similar to Dust in origin. Now, our time here is almost at an end. I have one trick to teach you that will make fights like this much easier."

"What is it?" Jaune did his best to sound interested but not too excited.

"Bare the aura around your arms for me."

Jaune did so, holding his arms out in front of him. Aura rushed through his skin and collected on the surface. He felt something shift in the air and his aura reacted, wisping away from his arms. The clouds of aura dissipated, but his Aura meter didn't go down. Come to think of it, how would a mental illusion have any effect on his actual aura? Maybe the illusion ran deeper than he had thought.

A spike of pain shot through him and vanished as suddenly as it had arrived. It had felt like it was going straight through his arms into his chest, but with the short duration of the pain he couldn't be sure.

"Done. Your aura is strong Jaune, but the power I have bestowed upon you is merely a fragment of the true power I have to offer. I shall leave you now to discover this new power within yourself, by yourself. It is the best way. Until the next time Jaune."

The world faded into blackness as Jaune felt himself fall backwards into bed. He opened his eyes to see the morning sun shining down into the room where his teammates were just getting up.

 _What did she mean by 'the power I have bestowed upon you'? Is it some part of my aura? Something entirely different?_

Whatever it was, he knew he had to figure it out as soon as possible. He didn't think it would be anything harmful, since the voice hadn't done anything to harm him so far, even though she could've killed him easily at any time by swarming him with Grimm.

"Good morning team JNPR!" Nora cried out, exuberant as usual. Jaune sat up, feeling mentally exhausted from the hour long battle he had just finished. Pyrrha must have noticed his exhaustion as she kept sending him worried looks. Jaune gave her a quick smile and that seemed to alleviate her worries slightly.

Jaune stretched his arms and hopped out, preparing for the day ahead.

 **? ?**

 **Atlas Laboratory**

 **Two Weeks Later**

The blackness that enveloped it was something it had always known, was it not? It did not know how long it had been in the blackness. It could not remember anything of how she had gotten into its current position, deprived of sensory input and floating in a sea of nothingness.

It had next to no memories, other than a vague collection of feelings and memory of language. It searched through them, trying to determine who it was.

 _Male or female?_ The choice seemed to pop into her head and it didn't seem to be from her own mind. The pattern felt foreign, the signature of the thought all wrong. It tried to ignore the choice, blocking it, even trying to destroy it. Nothing worked.

After what felt like an hour of waiting, it finally realized that the choice was not going anywhere until it got its answer. She mulled the decision over, trying to see if there was anything in its vague memories that could help it. It reached out an unformed hand, something merely more than the idea of a hand, and selected 'Female'. It felt right.

 _Wait, where did these 'hands' come from? How can I see the choice?_

The choice dissolved and disappeared, leaving it, no, _her_ , in pitch black darkness. But now the darkness was suffocating, overwhelming. She cried out into the darkness for someone to hear her, to rescue her.

 _What do you look like?_ This time, there was no visible appearance of the choice in the space around her. She would've sighed in relief if she had a body. Someone was out there and wanted to know more about her!

She thought about the question. She herself did not know anything about how she looked. Her memories gave her vague glimpses of something called a 'human form'. She mulled over the dim flashes of memories, observing the variety of different types of 'humans' she caught glimpses of.

A particularly vivid memory surfaced. It seemed to be important to her somehow, she could feel it. A young girl sitting on a chair, looking in the mirror at a blurry shape behind her. Only her and the blurry shape existed in the memory, the surroundings were blank. The shape behind her was doing something to her, er, what was it called? Oh right, hair!

The girl's hair was a bright orange-red and her eyes were a piercing green. She had an innocent look on her happy face, as if in a place she felt truly happy. She was in mid laugh when the memory dissolved, darkness filling the gap.

Thinking back to the choice, she decided to emulate the girl's appearance, as it was the only memory where she could clearly see anyone. She raised what used to only be the idea of hands to her idea of where her head was. She couldn't exactly see her hands in the traditional sense of the word, but could rather collect the idea of it.

 _Hands! I have hands!_

She twisted, trying to observe her new body. It looked very similar to the girl's in the memory. She could even observe her own face somehow, confirming the fact that she was now identical in appearance to the girl in the memory.

She exulted in the fact that she was at least human in appearance in her own thoughts. That was improvement over her previous position, was it not?

The choice had disappeared while she had been reveling in having an appearance, no matter how useless it was. She managed to keep the crushing darkness at bay with her happiness, waiting for further contact.

She still couldn't feel anything in the darkness, not even herself. It was if she was an image, her appearance a sham. She didn't let it bother her and focused on any incoming choices or feelings.

She didn't have to wait long as she was assaulted by a mixture of strange feelings from near the middle of her face. She whirled around, trying to determine the reason for the feelings.

They seemed to be coming mostly from a quarter of the way above the bottom of her face, where the 'nose' was supposed to be

 _Oh this is_ smell _! How exciting!_

She let the feeling wash over her, reveling in the sensations. They were strange smells, most unknown to her, though there was one particular one that brought up flashes of that pleasant memory again.

 _What was it called, colony…clone…cologne! That's it!_

She felt incredibly proud of herself for figuring that out. Maybe it was worn by the person that was behind her in that memory?

Her nose itched. She raised her hand to scratch it and froze. Since when could she touch and feel? She wiggled her fingers, the feeling of the skin rubbing against itself delighting her. She scratched her arm again and again, even pinching it slightly.

It hurt, but it was better than the numbness that she had been experiencing before. She giggled slightly as she accidently tickled herself. She didn't what was giving her these wonderful abilities, but she knew that she would do anything to never go back to that numbness again.

 **Jaune Arc**

"Alright, activation sequence is go." Jaune flipped a switch. The lights in the room dimmed slightly as the load on the Shock Crystals powering the room increased.

Victor and he were standing in a brightly lit room, looking in at a body that was lying on an operating table. This was the culmination of their work, a first prototype. This wasn't true artificial sentience, but merely a human mind being used by a "dumb" computer.

What they had done was abandon the idea of true artificial sentience immediately; it was way too difficult to overcome the problems posed by stuffing a supercomputer in the small volume of a soldier's body, not to mention the immense cost of manufacturing such advanced electronics.

No, relying 100% on a computer was not the way forward. So they started research into the field of the human mind being used in a robot body. Their research had turned up a way to "imprint" the human mind's workings onto a computer chip. What it did was map out the brain of the subject and replicate it exactly using artificially created "neurons". These were small devices that imitated the function of neurons, sending out chemicals and electric signals exactly how a real brain would. In the end, the result was a computer that had the processing power of the brain, along with its power to store and retrieve information almost instantly.

There were several downsides to this process, the biggest being that the donor brain would be destroyed during the process. Another problem was that the process could only be done on a brain that was alive and kicking. The process used the actual mechanisms of the active brain to make the replicated synthetic brain, any part of the brain that didn't work wouldn't work in the replica either, so brains of brain-dead people and just straight up dead people wouldn't work either.

The third biggest drawback was that only the memories that were actively being accessed at the time of the replication would be brought over, the rest would be lost. Even those memories that were brought over would only be partially brought over if they weren't corrupted.

This "hard reset" brain would be put in a robotic body that would be controlled by the pulses sent out by the brain. The brain would still think and reach as if it was in a regular body, and the 'dumb' computer AI on board would translate the pulses and move the limbs accordingly.

The robotic body was made to be almost identical to a human, from artificial flesh to sensors that could detect every physical thing that humans could. The social and emotional skills that set humans apart from animals would have to be developed through training. The body was outfitted with many top of the line weapons, like machine guns embedded in the limbs, directional boosters all over her body, grenade launchers in her back, among others.

The brain that they were running their test on belonged to one 16-year-old Penny Polendina, Victor's terminally ill daughter. She had snuck into their lab one day while Victor and Jaune were going over potential candidates. She had refused to back down, claiming that she would rather give her life to the experiment than die over the course of a couple years.

Victor and Penny had argued for a while, but Victor had eventually capitulated, acknowledging the arguments that Penny had put forth. Jaune knew that she was a strong willed and smart girl and was not surprised by the outcome of the argument. He was worried about her safety, but his cold and logical side told him she was the perfect candidate for this test. There were no other such candidates in the base or even the military, and Atlas had immediately shot their idea of recruiting civilians down, citing 'breach of secrecy'.

Ever since the argument, Victor had been a little depressed, which was expected of a man whose daughter was going to undergo an operation that could potentially kill her. If it succeeded, then she might be able to hang onto some shred of herself, but that was not enough to soothe Victor. Jaune wasn't worried about that, he was more worried about the slightly more aggressive and unstable behavior that Victor was exhibiting. Jaune had tried to help, but he knew that Victor would have to cope with it on his own terms, especially as he had been the one to give into Penny's arguments.

Jaune brought his mind back to the present as the sensors showed signs of activity in the brain. There was programming that they had inserted into the synthetic brain that would attempt to help the brain regain its memories about its identity. The only guaranteed information it could gather was information like gender that had been coded into the DNA. Penny's DNA had been scanned and the pertinent information uploaded into the synthetic brain.

Theoretically, extremely important memories would still be preserved, and Jaune hoped for Victor's sake that enough of Penny remained for her to not be completely alien. But there was no point in just hoping, the test was in progress, it was time to get back to that. Jaune flipped another switch that would start each of the sensors in the body in turn.

 _Come on theory, for once play well with the real world!_

 **Penny Polendina**

Penny was having the time of her life. After she had discovered smell and touch, she had discovered that there was some constant vibration on the sides of her head that she could barely make out. She tried to figure out what was doing that when she could suddenly understand that the sounds were words!

She stopped all movement, each new sound sending out ripples in the darkness around her, like stones being dropped into a sea at night.

"Brain activity constant and high, no signs of any defects. Everything is nominal Victor. We are good for the next step."

 _Victor? Why does that sound familiar?_

She heard a small click of some kind and a bright light blinded her from all directions. She raised her hands to block the light but it seemed to be coming from her and the surroundings at the same time. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she felt an incredible rush of sensations at such a pace that she struggled to name all of them.

 _Oh, that's taste! That's..uh..that's balance! I must be lying down. Where am I? What is this place? What's that? Oh it tickles!_

She shook her head to dislodge the culprit off her forehead. She reached a hand up to touch it and discovered that it was her own hair, but it felt different than it had in the Dark Place she had been before. Every sensation she felt seemed to be much sharper and softer at the same time, every feeling multiplied many times.

She could feel everything around her, from the smooth and cold table underneath her to the heat from the ceiling lights. She turned her eyes to the side towards where she thought the voices had been coming from.

She saw two men standing there, a middle aged one with balding ginger hair and blue eyes, the other a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes. They stared at her intently, as if waiting for to say something. The older one had a complicated mixture of emotions on his face and she couldn't understand them all.

Her mind whirled as she considered her position. She was lying on a table in a bright white room filled with many humming machines. They looked vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't understand it. She had always existed in the Dark Place where there was nothing, how could she recognize things in this Bright Place?

Even worse, she felt like she somehow knew the older man from somewhere, even though she knew that was wrong, right? There was no way she knew him…or did she? The feeling didn't leave her and she found herself feeling awkward.

Her mouth moved to produce words as she struggled to speak. She hadn't ever spoken, or had she? This was getting way too confusing. The two men leaned in slightly as she opened her mouth.

She froze again. This was way too much to take at once. All these new feelings combined with the sense of somehow knowing where she was but not knowing at the same time overwhelmed her and she made a gurgling noise as she blinked her eyes.

Something flashed across the older man's face as he looked at her. The younger man patted him on the back and gestured him towards her. He nodded and stumbled towards her, wringing his hands together.

"Uh, hello. Do you remember anything? Your name or anything about where you are? Nod if you can even understand me." The voice was kind, reassuring, even a little loving.

Penny nodded as she strained to think. He obviously knew her, and she knew that she had known him before the Dark Place. The memory of sitting in front of the mirror popped up once more, the blurry shape coming into focus slightly. She could make out its hair color, red. She could make out the vague shape of his body and it seemed similar to the person in front of her.

She stared up at the pain filled expression in the man's eyes. She managed to squeak out some words from her mouth. "You…mirror…hair…who…" Her voice was slightly garbled and out of tune. The blonde man did something to the panel in front of him as she tried to speak again. This time, her voice was much easier to use and understand.

"I was there, in front of a mirror, and you were there, doing something to my hair…who am I? Why am I here?" She almost froze up again, the wall she had put up to contain the flood of emotions almost cracking. How did she know how to do this? She was convinced that there had been something before the Dark Place, but how had she gotten to that horrible place?

The older man made a low shushing noise as he stroked her hair slowly. The touch calmed her down and helped her regain control. She concentrated, trying to think hard. She could bring up the mirror memory on command, and the other memories were rising up easier and faster than they had before. All of them were clearer and easier to observe than they had before. One of them stuck out particularly, the same girl as in the mirror memory, but slightly older. She was being hugged by a younger version of the man comforting her now and was she crying?

She ignored the other memories vying for her attention as she focused on this one. Like the other memory, it was moving and she could barely make out any sounds. Concentration at maximum, the sound of crying got louder and louder, and eventually she could make out the sound of the man making the same shushing noise as he was doing now.

" _Shh, shh, Penny it's okay, you're safe now. There, there. Don't worry. Daddy will never let any harm come to you."_

The memory faded out and then back in, restarting. She defocused, having gotten the information she had wanted. She was Penny, and this man was her father?

"I…I'm Penny?" Her voice was hesitant. She looked into the man's eyes to see relief and happiness flood through. The sight of that made her incredibly happy and she knew her memories were right. She was someone! She didn't belong in the Dark Place! She was a real girl!

"Do you remember who I am, Penny?" The man's voice was saturated with hope.

"You…um, you're my daddy?" This was it, her guesses at the vague shapes in her memories would be verified here and now.

The man's smile reached across his face as he laughed and gave her a hug. She lay there, unsure of what to do. She felt the man shake and assumed he was still laughing, but the damp spot on her shoulder disproved that.

He raised up again, sniffling, with tears in his eyes. "My baby girl, you're not gone. You're not gone…" He turned away and continued to sob quietly. Penny stared at his back and then at the blond man that was now approaching her.

The man kneeled next to the table she was lying on and put his elbows up on the edge, eyes level with hers.

"Did I do something wrong? What's wrong?" She looked worriedly into his calm eyes.

He smiled reassuringly. "Penny, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just…tough for us to cope. We'll explain everything to you soon. For now, let's see if you can get up and move around."

He stood up, offering her a hand that she grasped and pulled herself up with. Despite spending so much time in the Dark Place (or was it a little time? She honestly couldn't tell), she could move easily. She turned and slid her legs off the table, resting her bare feet on the cold floor.

She kept a tight hold on the blond man's hand as she stood up and tried to balance. This was much harder to. She wobbled in place and a hand came rest on her shoulder to steady. She turned to see the older man next to her. He took her other hand and the blond man backed off.

The older ma…no it was daddy! kept her steady as she moved her legs, walking around the room. She quickly got used to the balance and her father slowly let go of her as she continued to walk around by herself, gaining confidence with each step. Soon, it felt as if she had known walking for a long time, some sense telling her that it was around 15 years. She frowned at the fact and decided to ask her father and the kind man about it.

 **Jaune Arc  
**

Jaune looked at the man standing next to him. He was staring at the girl walking around with a far away on his face. His hands were clenched and his every emotion was on display. Happiness, relief, sorrow, confusion, all of it.

Jaune couldn't say that he could sympathize, but he could understand. He nudged the man out of his reverie. "Penny for your thoughts?"

The man glared at him and then smiled wistfully, staring at his daughter getting used to walking again. "Just thinking of the past and how she's going to react to the news. She's not the same person, not anymore. Will she be angry? Regretful? Happy? Will she even want to fight? I don't think I could lose her another time."

Jaune nodded, fully understanding the man's worries, both spoken and unspoken. They had just firmly established their place in history books and were now completely in uncharted waters. Everything they did from now on had to be well thought out, for Penny and for future experiments of this sort.

It would be difficult, but difficult was what Jaune did best.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	16. Infiltrate

**Jaune Arc**

 **SDC Mining Camp "Northern Wind"**

 **Somewhere in Atlas**

The night was frigid, the coldest it had been for the past week. A fog had settled onto the camp, obscuring anything outside of a range of 50 meters. Guards patrolled the twenty-foot high walls, eyes and cameras useless in the thick swirling fog. The walls were about a half mile in length, the base the shape of a square.

Two guards were standing on the North Wall, facing outwards.

"Hey?" The first man turned to look at the other.

"Yeah?" The other man responded, voice slightly bored.

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"Oh no, not this bullcrap again. Look, I told you last time, asking this goddamn question over and over again doesn't make it any better. So shut up and be attentive."

"Oh, so I can't ask important questions and expect a good response? You never answered me man! Life is, yknow, important! Excuse me for asking such important questions!"

"Hey, calm down, holy crap. The only reason I don't want to start that conversation again is because the last time that happened, Grimm attacked and I got shot by the West Wall patrol. I am not risking that again, alright?"

…

Hidden under a bush about 20 yards from the base of the wall, two figures watched the two men argue.

"What are they doing?"

Jaune turned to look at Raven, deactivating the zoom in his helmet camera.

"What?"

"I said, what are they doing now?"

Jaune curled his fists. "The same thing they've been doing for the past half an hour. Standing and talking, that's it. Literally, if you ask me again in five minutes, I'll bet you they'll be standing and talking."

Raven's mask seemed to bore into him but he looked away from her, checking his equipment one more time.

"Let's go then." She got up and stalked to the edge of the forested area, watching for any Grimm or patrols. Jaune stood behind her, Wind and aura at the ready to help him leap to the top of the wall.

Raven held up 3 fingers, then 2, then 1. She pulled her fist down and dashed to the wall, swinging her sword in an arc. An almost transparent Barrier formed halfway up the wall and she used it as a step to boost herself onto the wall. Jaune followed suit, using small amounts of Wind to keep the fog around them from swirling too much. They flipped over the barbed wire on the edge of the wall and landed in a crouch.

They snuck forwards towards the still arguing pair. Jaune nodded at Raven and they both lunged, putting their arms around the guards' necks and a hand on the guards' mouths. Their aura-laced chokehold was no match for the undefended guards and they soon fell into a deep, forced sleep. Jaune and Raven dragged their bodies to the side and hid them in the shadows.

They continued around the camp, dispatching each patrol with ease. Jaune used his IR camera in his helmet to see the heat signatures of the guards as well as the heat given off by cameras and such. Normally, they wouldn't show up that well, but in the bone-chilling cold they contrasted well.

No alarms were set off during their disposal of the guards. The patrols had only recently started their shift, and so Jaune and Raven had some time before Central Control would try to contact them. Plenty of time to do what they had come here to do.

Raven had contacted him four days ago, giving him the details of this mission and why they were attacking this camp in particular. The SDC had been buying Paladins and other weapons at an accelerated pace recently, and one of the larger shipments would be coming here. There had been rumors flying around the military base that there was some sort of project that the SDC had been doing something in the mines, as it had been receiving a lot of new workers recently.

All this information was surprisingly easy to get, even for Jaune stuck in the base. The 'secure' channels that the SDC used to transmit information about movement of inventory and workers had been surprisingly easy to listen in on. There were some channels that had encrypted more securely and Jaune hadn't managed to find a chink in the armor yet, though not for lack of trying.

Within half an hour, the two had managed to clear the entire perimeter of guards and were now standing at the main guardhouse on the southwest corner. The fog was a godsend because it prevented anyone from seeing the lack of guards on the wall.

The room was apparently heated, judging by the amount of heat emanating from the windows. Jaune deactivated his unneeded IR vision and knocked on the door. Casual footsteps approached the door.

"Barry, I swear to god if you want a drink, I will…" The man paused as he took in the sight of a man in black armor, face hidden behind his helmet, and a sword strapped to his back.

"Hope we aren't intruding," Jaune spoke amicably, sending an uppercut to the man's chin. "But it's really cold outside." He dragged the unconscious man to his chair and propped him up. "Thanks for understanding."

"Was that really necessary?" Raven sounded a little exasperated.

"No, but it was fun." Jaune plugged his scroll into the computer terminal and started typing. Raven stood guard, occasionally glancing at the screen. Thankfully, the guard had been signed in when he had answered the door, giving Jaune open access to the surveillance systems.

The cameras were next to useless in the fog, but Jaune set them on a loop anyways. They would only show the footage from an hour ago on a loop. Jaune rerouted the feed from the infrared cameras to his and Raven's scrolls. He didn't have the opportunity to make a IR camera and HUD for Raven due to the scrutiny put on his projects back at base by the Atlesian Army, so the feed would have to do.

Jaune saved the schedules for the guards to his scroll. It contained the locations and timings for shift changes and would be incredibly useful in moving through the base if their stay turned out to be longer than expected. A simple layout of the base was the next thing to be saved.

The rest of the stuff was personal and Jaune left that alone. Unluckily, the guard seemed to not be too high on the administrative ladder and had no access to anything more useful. Jaune returned the computer back to its original state.

"Got everything useful. We can head down now."

Raven followed him as they went down the staircase in the back of the guardhouse. Stepping off, they saw two guards lounging about, their weapons lying on a table nearby.

"You guys are terrible guards." Jaune knocked one guard unconscious before slapping the other one into a wall where Raven knocked him out before he could get up.

"Why do you insist on cracking one liners?" Raven carried the body of guard into the corner where Jaune had already put the first guard.

"Raven, have you heard of fun? That's what's I'm having right now. You should try it sometime."

Raven didn't respond. Jaune shrugged and confiscated the guard's weapons, collecting the Dust bullets as he had been doing for every gun he had encountered so far. The Dust bullets contained a particularly explosive mixture of Dust and Jaune wasn't going to pass up on free Dust.

Following the map, the two exited the guardhouse building, stepping into the shadowy world. Jaune turned his IR camera back on. The fog was as thick as ever, turning the world swirling grey. They made their way towards the location of the clearing where the main mineshaft was. In doing so, they would have to cross the Faunus workers' housing, which would throw some elements of luck into their plan. A lot of Faunus had an excellent sense of smell and would no doubt be able to detect the two.

They leaped over a fence, then another, then another. Eventually they were in the interior of the complex, on the outskirts of the camp. They stopped at the tall electrified fence that surrounded the warehouse-like buildings where the Faunus lived. Jaune could feel his anger subconsciously increase as he gazed at them. This was the area where the bulk of the terrible, terrible things that Raven had showed him occurred. Who knows if there was some poor Faunus being tortured at this very moment?

Jaune took a deep breath to clear his head and refocus on the task at hand. They would cross that bridge if they came to it. For now, they had to figure out a way of getting into the mines.

He scanned the area around the fence for any motion detectors or surveillance equipment using the images that were being sent straight to his scroll. He smudged and scratched each one's lens, knowing that there were automatic alarms that would go off if the camera was blocked or destroyed. It would head straight to Central Command of the base and they would be discovered in seconds.

The area now clear, they both jumped over the fence with ease; it had been designed to keep the workers in, not Hunters out. They made their way between each large warehouse, ignoring various sounds coming from them. Laughing, crying, talking, whispering, begging, yelling, all sorts of sounds made their way through the thin walls.

 _Walls this thin wouldn't provide even a little bit of insulation, and it's freezing outside. Wonder how many blankets they were given?_

Jaune stopped at a warehouse's open door and peeked in. The sight was not much different from what Raven had showed him: hundreds of Faunus crammed into the building, barely 5 square feet per person. People were lying down in one corner, bodies shifting as they attempted to get more area. Kids ran around the edges, playing games while their parents called to them.

The floor was covered in patches of ragged grey cloth, similar to the clothing worn by the workers. Everyone, no matter their expression, had tinges of misery and exhaustion on their faces. They were all lean and scrawny, no doubt as a result of being worked hard and not getting enough nutrients. Jaune moved away from the entrance and continued on their path through the warehouses, shunting the sight from his mind. They had a job already, and the faunus weren't part of it yet.

 **Kalo Black**

 **Hired Hunter**

 **Mineshaft Entrance**

Kalo leaned on the side of the elevator as it carried him up to the surface. For all the money the SDC had, their elevators looked like crap. They were basically a cage that was being hauled up by an almost dead motor, making a racket that was sure to deafen anyone who stayed there for too long.

He had been hired by the SDC to 'make certain the safety of the Mine and any property of the Schnee Dust Company therein'. In other words, he was a security guard. He had originally considered turning the job down, but after seeing the amount they were willing to part with, he couldn't resist. His self-respect was only trumped by his love of money.

The elevator jerked to a halt and the doors opened to the cold night air. He stepped out, little bursts of Scorch Dust keeping him warm. Hunters carried around low quality Scorch Dust for this purpose, and it paid off in situations like this.

He pulled his scroll out, browsing the camera feeds, seeing nothing amiss. He sighed and put the device away. Nothing had been different for the past week, why should today be different?

But there was that slight feeling of unease that was slowly spreading through him ever since he had stepped out of the elevator. There was something wrong, but he couldn't see anything.

He put a hand on his whip and the touch comforted him. It had been with him ever since he had built it at Sanctum Academy, and it had won him many fights against both Grimm and fellow Hunters during his career.

He strolled around the edge of the clearing that the main mineshaft lay under, an eye out for movement. All the workers were in their homes, and the guards were patrolling the outside of the housing area, as well as inside the mine itself.

He made two laps around the circle, tensions seeping out of him with each step. He stopped and stretched his arms, feeling the coolness of the air swirling around his hands. He looked up at the bright moon, the broken surface fascinating as usual.

"Pretty, isn't she?"

Kalo almost jumped out of his skin. The voice was coming from right behind him!

He spun around and leapt back at the same time, his black coat swirling. He put a hand on his whip threateningly as he glared at the entity who had somehow managed to sneak up on him.

"Still as amazed seeing her now as I was the first time. How did it break? What could cause such a thing? Is there something more out there? I don't know, but it keeps me up at night." The strange figure continued casually, helmeted face turned up, light illuminating his fully black armor.

He was covered almost head to toe in the stuff, save for the joints. Dust crystals were imbedded at various locations and they glimmered in the moonlight. There was a sword strapped to his side and like his armor, it was black and covered in Dust.

"This is SDC property and unless you have proper documentation, you are trespassing here. If you do not leave within thirty seconds, I will have no choice but to remove you myself." He was required to say these words, but they sounded weak in the context.

The man looked away from the moon and turned his visor towards Kalo. "Hey, no need to become hostile, just a friendly chat, nothing to get up in arms about." The man's tone was casual as if he broke into secure, guarded facilities on a daily basis. His tone was also friendly and comforting, not at all what you would expect from someone as heavily armored as him.

"You broke in here to have a chat?" Kalo kept a hand on his whip, ready to deploy it at the slightest hint of danger.

"Oh dear me, no. Much better ways of doing that, y'know. No, I just stumbled in on you walking around. You looked really lonely so I just wanted to make sure you weren't feeling bad. Strangers are friends you haven't met yet, that's what my mother says. Or something like that, it was a long time ago." The man mused, stroking his chin.

"Aren't you a Promethean? What's the real reason you're here?" Kalo didn't pay the blabber any mind, many opponents used conversation to put their enemies off guard.

The stranger stared at him, then finally shrugged. "I am a Promethean, that I am. I honestly don't know why I'm here. Seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess? Might as well explore the famous SDC mines while I'm here. Do excuse me." He started towards the elevator, completely ignoring Kalo's battle stance.

 _Oh no you don't, protecting that thing is my paycheck!_

"HALT", Kalo raised his voice, imbuing as much command into the tone as he could. "CONTINUING TO MOVE FORWARD WILL RESULT IN LETHAL FORCE BEING APPLIED. THE SDC WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES OR DEATHS."

The figure paused. "Is that so?" He turned around, the friendly posture now replaced with something predatory. "Does yours count?"

Kalo barely had time to react before something slammed into his side, sending him flying. He managed to right himself in the air and land on his feet. Before any more attacks could commence, he unfurled his whip and snapped at the figure, sending a fireball flying.

The man simply raised his hand and flicked at the ball, causing it to split in two and dissipate around his figure. Kalo pressed down on a different rune on the handle and snapped it again, a blue shield forming around him. The handle was filled with different kinds of Dust, each connected to a rune that would activate a small amount of stored aura. The rest of the whip was crafted in a way such that the Dust and its effects would have no choice but to exit the tip.

The figure looked at him for a couple seconds and then just turned and continued walking towards the mineshaft. Kale thumbed a third rune and launched himself forwards, each step making him go faster, wind bending around him. The figure didn't even turn towards him as he charged. He was 15 meters away, 10, 5…

He flew sideways again as something hit him again, harder than last time. He could feel his aura dip but didn't couldn't afford to think about the cause. He flicked his whip once more, a crack echoing around the camp.

The figure paused once more again, though this time not by choice. He shook in place as he struggled to move. Kalo smiled. _Didn't think it would put him in a full body lock._ He activated an alarm through his SDC watch, calling in reinforcements just in case.

He got up, snapping his whip once, twice, thrice, each flick charging an attack. Four, five, six. He walked towards the helmeted man, continuing to snap his whip. He reached the man and leaned in to whisper into his ear.

"Cocky little prick, aren't you? The SDC is going to be sending in an army, you're as good as dead. Any last words?" Kalo raised his whip to bring the wrath of his weapon down on his foe.

"So soon? I haven't even struck yet!"

 _Wait, then who was…?_

He whirled around only to see a glimpse of feathers as the now familiar strike launched him backwards. He recovered much faster this time, spinning around to face his opponent. He glanced around the darkened field to see…no one?

 _I only took my eyes off them for two seconds, where did they…_

Another strike hit, sending him ten feet backwards though he managed to retain his balance the entire time. He struck out with his charged up strike and managed to hit something. A resounding crack split the air, sending a dark figure flying through the air.

Kalo didn't waste the opportunity and jumped into the air, snapping his whip thrice in quick succession. He struck out at the figure, but his whip hit something fragile. Cold shards flew into his face, his aura managing to keep them from ripping his eyes apart.

He struck out blindly with his whip, only to receive another massive strike under his extended arm. He flew towards the ground, throwing up rock and gravel as he made contact. He leaped out of the crater and dodged to the left and right unpredictably, trying to get his mysterious assailant to make a mistake and expose themselves.

"What are you doing? You look like a drunk dog chasing its own tail. Seriously, self-respect, you need it." The black figure was back, leaning on his sword as he looked at Kalo dodging around.

 _Oh no you don't, I know there are two of you. Just gotta keep you away from the mines until the SDC gets here._

He kept ducking and weaving randomly, keeping an eye on the figure as he stared at him. The Promethean shrugged and started walking towards the mineshaft. Kalo watched him go helplessly. From prior experience, he knew that he would probably get smashed if he tried to deliberately attack. The full body stop that he had employed required him to charge his whip, and for that he needed to have time to concentrate.

There was only one thing he could do and that was activate his semblance. It would reduce his physical inhibitions, making him stronger. His aura would be burned up trying to heal his injured body, but if he could stop the two intruders, it would be worth it. It wasn't the most unique semblance, but it got the job done.

He pulled up his reserves of aura as he continued rolling, feeling it flood his body with energy. It was an addictive feeling, the feeling that told you that anything was possible. He stopped rolling and let the energy flood him. A strike came from his left but he ignored it, snapping his whip over and over, building up energy.

He leaped forwards, plowing through a strike that tried to stop him. He could almost feel his muscles ripping apart and reforming, then healing back up. His whip hit the Promethean in the back, sending him sprawling and unable to move, for the next couple of minutes at least. Shock Dust was supremely useful.

He turned around only to receive a strike that created a shell of ice around him, which he easily shook apart from the inside. His muscles screamed in protest but aura and adrenaline were keeping the pain at bay. He swung his whip round and round, the tip spitting a mix of flames and sparks. He lashed forwards blindly, once, twice, thrice, trying to hit something. His instincts flared up and he dodged to the left, a blur speeding by his head. He swung his whip at the shadow figure, another crack echoing through the camp.

He kept up the offensive, each swing charging the next, each strike pushing his opponent back further and further and further away from the mineshaft. He grinned in savage delight as the whip continued to charge. The more it charged, the more powerful it got, the more damage it did, and thus it charged even faster.

He threw his hand forward and turned at the same time, increasing the power of the swing. The strike landed and he could hear a grunt as the figure was sent flying back. He was now facing in the direction of where he had left the Promethean, who was now nowhere to be seen.

Kalo stalked towards the location, glancing around at his surroundings. The elevator hadn't started leaving yet, so the Promethean must not have left yet. Had he run away? No, that wasn't it.

Something flew through the air and landed at his feet. He instinctively looked at it and realized his mistake. A flash of light blinded him and a loud bang deafened him. He stumbled backwards from the flashbang, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears. His vision quickly came back, aura speeding the process along. The surprising flashbang had broken his hold on his semblance and he now back to normal, or as normal as you can get with severe aura exhaustion.

Something struck him in the back of the head and he fell to the ground panting. There was no more fight left in him, his stupid, stupid lack of concentration losing him the fight. He felt a presence get closer and looked up, trying to see the second assailant clearly.

All he saw was a flash of silver and then nothing at all.

 **Jaune Arc**

"Raven, what the hell?!"

Jaune stared at the falling body of the Hunter, the trunk collapsing to the ground as the head rolled away, expression blank.

Raven sheathed her sword, somehow immaculately clean despite what it had just done.

"I did what had to be done. We couldn't leave him alive, especially not with the SDC about to come down on us. He would have told them about us and the last thing we want is the SDC, and by extension Atlas, actively hunting us." Raven's voice was casual. The death didn't seem to bother her one bit.

Jaune was still a bit shocked at the brutality of the execution, but he couldn't deny the fact that Raven was right. The man had told him that reinforcements were on the way and there was no way the two of them were going to risk the man telling Atlas who they were, even if there was a large chance he had not seen Raven.

The body twitched for a second and then fell still. Jaune picked up the head and set it next to the body, glancing at the name tag. _Kalo Black._ The man had fought well against Raven, Jaune stood no chance against him once his semblance activated. The taunting had been fun, but it had only been a distraction so Raven could attack unseen.

The attack had gone off well, with only minor hiccups, like the Hunter's death. The intention was to knock him unconscious and hide him, but Raven had other plans. The other hiccup had to do with the way that the Hunter had somehow paralyzed Jaune. It wasn't a direct attack on him, but it had caused him lots of pain as his muscles seemed to lock up and resist any movement.

Jaune pocketed Kalo's weapon and dragged the body off into the shadows while Raven opened the elevator shaft. He burned the body, keeping the smoke contained using Wind dust. He had also used Wind to obscure the sounds of the battle. He walked to where Raven was waiting, letting off little puffs of smoke out of the bubble as he walked.

"Jaune, are you sure you'll be able to focus on the mission? You look a little sick." Raven climbed down into the hole in the elevator, attaching herself to the cable. Jaune took a deep breath to regain his composure. He had seen people die before in accidents or videos posted online, but never this close, this…personally. He was involved in this murder, for a murder it was. The man was defenseless and Raven had murdered him.

"No, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit taken back y'know? Let's get going, we don't have much time before the SDC gets here." Jaune attached his own carabiner to the rope. He was definitely not okay, but he contained the self-control to shove away the events that just transpired into a dark corner. He would deal with them later.

They dropped into the maw of the mine, keeping their speed manageable as they fell.

 _Good Hunters like Kalo aren't cheap. How much did SDC spend on protection for this mine? Are there more? No matter how good Raven says she is, there is no way that she can take on 3 Hunters as skilled as Kalo by herself._

They continued falling into the darkness, though the sounds of their descent and the heat from the surrounding rocks were more than enough for Jaune's cameras. The heat increased gradually but steadily as they descended and Jaune slowly decreased the aura flowing into his Scorch crystal.

They fell for about 20 seconds before slowing their descent gradually until they were close to a landing platform. There was no way to contact the surface from here so Jaune couldn't access his scroll to see whether or not the SDC reinforcements had arrived. Whatever they were here to find, they would have to do it blind and with only one way of escape: Raven's portals, which could only take you to places that Raven had already been to. They also required large amounts of aura, which was something they couldn't spend on a whim.

They swung off the rope onto a metal platform, landing softly. Jaune checked the charge on his railgun as well as the state of all his Dust and aura. Raven next to him was doing the same thing, her sword sheath under heavy scrutiny. She straightened up after a bit and nodded at Jaune. They both started forwards together, Raven's hand on her sword, Jaune's sword in his hand.

Jaune activated the IR flashlight on his helmet to illuminate the narrow corridor. The corridor was hewn from rock wide enough for 4 people to walk side by side. There were rails running down the corridor, evidently for a train car that carried supplies and people.

Jaune brushed his hands over the rails softly, feeling for any vibrations. There were some faint ones, but none that indicated whether someone was using the tracks.

"No one on the rails or anywhere close for at least 500m. Let's pick up the pace."

They ran forwards, boosting their strides with tiny slivers of aura, stride lengthening with each step. They stopped after a minute of running to check for any vibrations in the track. There were none. They continued running.

This went on for 15 minutes, following rails down the gentle slope into the bowels of the Earth. The heat was starting to seep past the one Ice Crystal he used for air conditioning. Jaune activated another one, worried. The further they went in, the more aura they would need to expend in either cooling themselves down or healing the effects of the extreme heat.

Jaune crouched down for what felt like the hundredth time, trying to feel for vibrations in the track. He was about to confirm the negative when he felt the vibrations already present in the track change slightly.

"Thomething's on the trackth." Jaune avoided using the 's' sound as the hissing noise carried in confined places like the corridor they were in.

"Nowhere to hide either. No choice but to continue. Probably a guard or some automated machinery."

They continued their routine, checking the tracks every minute. The vibration had gotten stronger and stronger with each stop. The last stop occurred twenty meters before the tunnel ended in a solid metal wall. The duo surveyed the smooth grey barrier, looking for any way to get inside.

"No cameras as far as I can see." Jaune scanned the door over and over again, trying to see anything but lifeless, static metal.

"No mechanisms to open it either. The good news is that there don't seem to be any traps." Raven was crouched, surveying the spot where the rails disappeared into the metal. The rail and the metal were flush with each other.

"The wall should absorb the vibrations, especially since they are touching." Jaune knelt in front of the join, running his finger from the rails to the wall. "But they're not, oddly enough. There is something on the other end either banging on the rails so hard that the door can't absorb all the energy, or this door is a marvel of engineering."

"I honestly don't know. Who knows what the SDC is hiding down here? I wouldn't be surprised if it was some sort of Grimm they managed to get under control. They attempted that. Once."

Jaune knew about the incident of course. What had started as a small project with a couple baby Beowolves had turned into a bloodbath. Every single person in the facility had been ripped to shreds in a massive attack by all kinds of Grimm. The consensus had been that the Grimm had been attracted by the entrapment of their own kind, though the mechanism was still hotly debated.

"So shall we force our way in? Asking nicely doesn't seem like it's working." Jaune already was rummaging inside his pouches.

"Go for it. Should I stand back?"

 _She knows me pretty well._ "Yeah, that would be smart."

Jaune took out two vials of powder and a Scorch crystal. He used up the crystal to create a thin 3-inch-deep hole in the metal. Jaune filled the hole with the thermite powder from the vials and added a small magnesium ribbon on top. He sprinkled some Flame Dust in and plugged the hole with a cap of steel to top off the package and ran backwards to where Raven was standing.

"Don't look directly at the flame, it will damage your eyes." Jaune knew that the temperature the thermite burned at would emit light in the ultraviolet

He concentrated and built up aura inside the Dust. The energy flowed into the Dust and pushed against the mental barriers he had put into place like water against dam.

"Fire in the hole!" Jaune exclaimed as the critical point was reached. The Flame Dust converted all the aura into heat almost immediately. Sparks shot from the hole as the magnesium ribbon ignited, followed soon by a large tongue of flame and globs of molten metal. Jaune watched the light from the highly exothermic reaction play on the walls of the corridor in front of him.

The reaction was soon over, a red hot glowing hole in the middle of the wall. They both turned back to the now not-so-secure wall. Jaune approached the hole, accelerating the cooling process using Dust. The wall seemed to be solid the whole way through, but Jaune could detect some hint of something more, though he didn't know if it was his instinct or his aura.

Jaune waited patiently as the metal solidified and cooled from bright red back into the mid-infrared. He traced the jagged edges and the smooth curves of the hole, trying to find something other than the metal alloy the door was made of.

"Raven, can you detect anything in the door? I feel like there is something inside the wall itself, but it's really faint."

"You feel it too? I started feeling it as soon as you started creating that hole. It feels familiar, though I have no idea what it could be." Raven had her head cocked, grip tight on her sword.

Jaune nodded and peered through the hole. The track stretched into the darkness, the track sloping into obscurity.

"There's nothing special on the other side, the track just continues on."

"What's the point of this then? It's awfully thick, heavy, and well-crafted for a simple track block."

"Exactly. We should try to find what's inside this thing, though I think more explosives isn't the best idea. I'm fresh out of heavy machinery, so that's not an option. Any ideas?"

Raven nodded thoughtfully. Jaune stepped away from the hole and Raven placed a hand inside, feeling around as Jaune had.

"There's something here, the feeling has gotten stronger. Hold on one second." Raven bowed her head as if concentrating.

Jaune waited. Raven didn't move for quite some time. Jaune looked up the tunnel, soldiers and guards should already be in the tunnels, though why none of them had reached them yet was a mystery.

Jaune turned his attention back to Raven and watched her. Her face was hidden behind the Nevermore mask she always wore, her long black slightly messy hair making her mask look even more demonic. She hadn't taken that mask off in front of him, but Jaune didn't care. She would do that in her own time and he didn't really get hung up on those kind of details.

She was stiff, her whole body tensed as if under strenuous load. It didn't seem to be the type of strain one would exert when fighting against something, so Jaune wasn't worried. The thing he was worried about was the time Raven was taking to do whatever she was trying to do.

"Raven…" Jaune began. Raven's head jerked up at the noise.

" _ **BAYEN VE STRETA**_ " Raven's voice intoned, the voice deep and genderless.

"Raven? What…" Jaune began before Raven grabbed him by the throat.

" _ **LEYE VE STRETA**_ " Raven's voice shook slightly.

"What the hell?!" Jaune fought, but Raven's grip was too tight around his neck, by passing his aura entirely.

" _ **TERA VE STRETA. GI TE CHEREDA. HETR LO MARDI.**_ "

A bright red flash illuminated the corridor, blinding Jaune. Raven's hands fell from his neck.

Jaune stumbled backwards, hitting the corridor wall. He shook his head and let his cameras adjust to the dim lighting once again. He concentrated his full aura on defense, waiting for Raven to attack.

He looked around as his cameras finally adjusted to the light, taking in the surroundings. They were still inside a corridor, and it looked to be the same going off the scorch marks the thermite had created. The real unknown started from where the metal wall used to be onwards.

What was a completely blocked off section of the corridor was now a humongous open cavern, half flooded with lava. The walls rose upwards into the darkness to form a ceiling. Jaune turned to where Raven had been and saw her limp body lying on the ground, face up.

He scrambled over to her, listening for a heartbeat and checking her pulse. There was one, but it was highly irregular. Her muscles twitched slightly, and her hands tried to clench. Telltale signs of aura exhaustion. Whatever had happened to her after he had interrupted her had completely drained her aura. It might have even powered the red flash he had seen.

 _But how in the world did a corridor turn into THIS? Did we get teleported? It didn't feel like any other time I teleported._

Jaune analyzed the whole sequence of events. Raven had been tense and under strain, Jaune had interrupted her. Her concentration had broken, causing something to happen to her. Her voice had changed, and she had become highly aggressive. There was the matter of the strange language that she had spoken in.

 _Bayen ve strata, ley eve strata, tera ve strata? Then there were those other words after these three phrases_. _What do they mean?_

They didn't sound like any language Jaune had ever encountered, either on Earth or in Remnant, though parts of it sounded vaguely similar to Latin.

Jaune picked Raven's body up, the dead weight causing him to use aura to keep up a semi-normal walking pace. He strode to the edge and looked down. The cliff face was more or less smooth, leading into the lava pool below. An acrid blast of sulfur hit him square in the face, causing him to hurriedly turn the air filter in his helmet on. It would help keep the smell down, though not completely.

There was a small island in the pool of lava 50 meters from the base of the cliff that the corridor was in. That meant the island was 60 meters laterally in front of him, and 40 feet vertically. He did some quick calculations. If he freefell, then he would need to be moving forwards at 20 meters per second to be able to reach the island, which would probably cause him to slide off the island and into the lava.

He considered his options. He could go backwards into the corridors to try and get to the main mineshaft. There was a very small chance that he would be able to find a place for Raven to rest so she could portal them out, but those kind of odds made that option a last resort.

Jaune looked at the lava pool again, contemplating ways he could get down. None of the many options that sprang to his head appealed to him. They either relied on too many unknowns or consumed too much aura.

Jaune turned back to the corridor. If there were any search parties, he would immediately turn and come back. It was worth a try to see if he could escape. He could always come back later when both Raven and he were fresh. Now that Raven had been here, she could teleport them in.

He picked her body up again and soldiered forwards, the slight slope working against him. The passage curved and meandered just as Jaune remembered it had when they were coming down it. Jaune grinned as he recognized certain oddly shaped rocks in the wall.

Jaune turned a corner and stopped in his tracks. In front of him lay the lava-floored cavern. It looked the exact same as it had before. Even the portion of the corridor between him and the edge had scuff marks on the ground and scorch marks on the walls.

Jaune set Raven down and sprinted backwards, following the route he had just taken. The path was the exact same as it had been when he had set out with Raven for the first time, not even turned or flipped. Jaune stopped sprinting when he reached the cavern again. Raven still lay there, and everything looked the exact same.

 _How the actual what? Infinite loop? How can two ends of a tube connect together facing the same direction in 3d space-time? Are there more dimensions of space? Are we even on Remnant?_

Jaune turned back to the chasm. It seemed like that was the only way forward, hopping from island to island until he got somewhere, be it another corridor or portal. And he would have to do it carrying Raven.

 _Let's get started then._

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	17. Within

**Corporal Shard Tiran**

 **SDC Reinforcements**

"Remnant Squad, prepare to move out."

Shard looked up at Jacques Bergamot, her tall, muscular, commanding squad leader. She opened the programs relevant to the mission on her scroll and collected all her instrumentation. She had recently been put in charge of anything related to technology in her squad, and she was determined to do a solid job on this mission.

"Shard, you ready?" The voice was upbeat and peppy.

Shard looked to her right at Mau, her closest friend in the squad. He was currently checking his straps on his armor, making sure nothing was falling off. His shotgun was in its rack, boxes of ammo in pouches sown onto his armor.

He had short spiky black hair that somehow matched his wild brown eyes. They never stayed still, always darting here and there as if searching for things to do. He had a grin on at all times, no matter the situation.

One time during basic training, the two of them had run into a pack of Beowolves while doing survival training. Even as they kept the Beowolves at bay desperately waiting for backup, his grin hadn't faded. She had found it annoying at the start, but she had gotten used to it, even finding it endearing.

"Oh I'm so ready. I'd be more worried about you though; you might scratch one of your precious claws." She added the last part in as a whisper, nodding at his hands, which had small holes above his nails where his retractable claws hid.

They were the only sign of his Faunus heritage and he kept them a secret. She was the only person he had shared the secret with and she had promised to not tell anyone. That didn't stop her from teasing him from time to time about them, though she only did it when he got too cocky.

He pouted at her, immediately deflating. "C'mon Shard, you know I don't like that. Why you gotta be rude?"

She laughed and patted him on the shoulder. His smile popped up again. She checked over her own weapon once more. It was black and grey like most of Atlas's weapons, though she had modified hers to an extent. Most soldiers added some degree of customization, though she had gone further.

She had extended the barrel and modified the scope to relay more information to her. The shell eject system was optimized slightly to decrease the delay between each shot. She had one or two magazines of explosive rounds, but those were for emergencies.

She had almost forgotten to take them since she had been abruptly woken up to report to the mission briefing center. There her squad had been told about the intruders that had managed to make it into an SDC mining camp. The only piece of intel had been that the mercenary Hunter, Kalo Black, had confronted the intruders, and that no alarms had been tripped while the intruders made their way through the base.

Her squad had been loaded into a Bullhead and sent out here with the promise of more reinforcements once they got another squad ready. That would be at least an hour from the start of landing, so if things went south upon landing, they would be screwed.

"So what do you think is up with this attack? Or if it even is an attack. These guys just strolled in according the briefing, no alarms, nothing on the cameras, nothing. Just some unconscious guards and that's it." Shard asked the secret Faunus.

Mau sat back with a contemplating look on his face. "It doesn't seem like White Fang to be honest. They would have started burning the place to the ground immediately. And those guards would have their throats slit."

Shard nodded. It definitely didn't seem like what the White Fang would've done. Humans and that too on a Schnee mining base? No way they would be kept alive. "So who do you think did it? There aren't many criminals out there that would risk something so large, especially not on a base like _Northern Wind._ If there was a gang that was bold enough to risk it, they would have started with smaller ones."

"Exactly. There's another thing that stands out about this, and that's the fact that they are Hunters, or at least Hunter trained. Some aura sensors on the edges of the base reported that there were bursts on aura that popped up in the timeframe. That fact plus the fact that they took down the merc Hunter that the SDC hired."

Mau got a sour look on his face. "Yeah, I really don't like this. First of all, we know next to nothing about them or their motives and they're Hunters to boot! Aren't they supposed to be the good guys?"

Shard had to think about that. Hunters were supposed to be their guardians against the Grimm, the best of the best. They were supposed to use their talents for good. Yet some Hunters went bad, using their powers to rob, steal, cheat, and harm. Shard understood why Mau disliked the power Hunters possessed: it put them over the 'regular people'.

The Hunters generally turned a blind eye to the plight of the Faunus, leaving it to the governments to sort out these domestic and social problems. That was yet another thing Mau had against Hunters.

"So if it is a couple of rogue Hunters, what are we supposed to do against them? Ask them politely? They could probably take all of us out with their stupidly large weapons, aura, and Dust control." Mau growled the last sentence, the contempt audible in his voice.

Shard reached over and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Mau, relax. They didn't kill those guards, meaning they probably don't won't kill us either. Besides, I think this baby can put at least a dent in their auras, that's worth something right?"

Mau smiled sadly at her, the anger gone. "Shard, what if something goes wrong tonight? If one of us don't make it out?"

Shard stared at her reflection in her helmet's visor before she put it on. Short red hair and a pale complexion thanks to Atlas's weather patterns. Her eyes were a bit on the larger side, and startlingly green.

Could this be her last time seeing herself? Missions never went to plan, and her plan was to stay alive. She sighed and put that thought away; it was almost time to get going.

"Hey Mau? You really need to chill out. Once we get back, drinks on me. Deal?"

The green light above the door turned on and the Bullhead slowed its fast landing. Shard's stomach fell back down in a familiar feeling and she joined the rest of her squad at the door. Mau was at the front, aiming his shotgun at the door, shoulders locked with the person next to him.

The door flew open and they charged out, aiming their shotguns around. The next line of soldiers ran out and took their positions, followed by Shard and two other soldiers. Within the minute, all of the twenty soldiers had piled out and taken their positions around the Bullhead.

"Clear!" Their squad leader spoke into his scroll. The Bullhead took off again, the hot air buffeting the group. They kept their aims steady, waiting for any ambush from the intruders or Grimm.

None came. The squad moved forward, securing the perimeter of the clearing that the Bullhead had dropped them into. Jacques motioned her over to the elevator platform. She attached her scroll to the panel, reading the logs.

"So this thing says that the lift came up a bit more than an hour ago, but never went down. The evidence supports that," she gestured at the elevator, still visibly there. "They must have forgone the elevator either to avoid tripping any alarms or to keep their entrance quiet."

Jacques nodded. He motioned at two soldiers that had been at the South end of the clearing. They trotted up, saluting as they came to a stop near the leader.

"You two, check for any traps that could have been laid in the elevator. Tiran, you prep the elevator for manual control. We'll take the trip down slowly. Understood? Good. Get going."

Shard opened the door to the elevator and stepped in. She jacked into the panel, using the backdoor that had been installed primarily for the purpose. She could hear the two in charge of looking for traps clambering around below the platform.

She finished up taking control of the elevator controls. She sent an all clear to Jacques and waited for everyone to pile in. She didn't have to wait long, and soon the whole squad was inside the elevator, ready to start the descent.

"Tiran, you are good to go." Jacques nodded at her. She pressed the button and the elevator slowly came to life, taking them deeper into the bowels of the Earth.

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune had no clue what was going on, which was a first for him.

 _To recap, we tried blasting through a wall, Raven got possessed by something, we either get teleported here of the wall opens up to reveal a huge cavern filled with lava and tiny little islands. Oh, and the path backwards goes in a loop that is impossible in 3 dimensions of space. What a day._

Raven was still unconscious, aura trying to rebuild itself. The process was slow and generally took a day in a carefully maintained hospital environment. This was an underground cavern, so that didn't help things. Jaune's own aura was at 85%, which meant he would have to be a bit more conservative than he would have liked. Who knew what kind of threats were down here?

He still had most of his Dust and was as fresh as when he had started. He would have to treat the Promethean body as his own because he couldn't risk getting Raven caught in the explosion. Leaving her alone wasn't a good idea either, because who knew what kind of stuff happened down here? If topology was so easily overturned in the passage at his back, he didn't want to risk any other so called 'fundamental' laws getting broken.

The closest island was 50 meters from the base of the cliff that the corridor was in. That meant the island was 60 meters laterally in front of him, and 40 feet vertically. Jaune ran some calculations in his mind, scratching his rough work on the rock walls. Factoring in the gravity, air resistance, the turbulent flow exhibited by Wind Dust, the various temperatures it was possible to get out of the Wind Dust, the blasts of hot steam emanating from the lava pool, and many other factors, Jaune tried to figure out the most efficient way of crossing the distance to the island.

He wasn't going to use his Gravity Dust just yet, since he didn't know if there were any harder jumps, or any time he would have to up instead of down. Better safe than sorry.

He would have to make sure that he landed safely, and had enough room to gather speed to go to the next island. Jaune peered into the distance, but could barely see anything through the heat and haze of the air above the lava.

He checked, double checked, and triple checked his calculations. If he fell into the lava, it was game over for him and Raven, she would be toast within a second and his own aura wouldn't be able to power the Dust necessary for him to not burn.

Finally satisfied, he checked everything over again. He picked up Raven in his arms, keeping her center of mass near his own to prevent loss of balance. Gut feelings and reactions would be key here.

He backed up a little and sprinted off the cliff, boosting himself up and forwards with blasts of Wind.

POOF! He was now ten feet from the cliff and completely over the lava.

POOF! Twenty feet, falling fast, air whipping at his clothes. It tugged at Raven, threatening to rip her away.

POOF! The island was within 30 feet now and approaching fast.

Jaune opened the throttle wide, countering his downward and forwards momentum simultaneously. He drew closer and closer to the island, the heat a heavy blanket over his body.

He turned off the wind when he could see the details on the glassy rock and crashed into it, protecting Raven with his aura. The crash threw up super fine shards of the fragile igneous rock, most of the smaller particles mixing with the air. Jaune held his breath, bearing the thousand sharp stings of the minute shards.

The dust settled. Jaune opened his eyes and looked around. He was yet again in a crater of his creation, though this one was quite a bit smaller than the others he had created. He held Raven carefully away from the extremely sharp edges as he got up. Lacerations were not what she needed right now.

Jaune continued to funnel aura into his Ice Dust, keeping the temperature down to something that wouldn't broil them. Jaune peered around, trying to find the next platform. The air itself shifted in the intense heat. Sweat kept dripping down into his eyes, stinging as badly as the shards had.

Shapes shifted in the distance. Jaune couldn't discern their identity, which made finding the next platform even harder. Was that thing actually moving or was it just a trick of the haze? Jaune knew that he had to spend as little time as possible this close to the lava. Each second cooling himself and Raven down drained his aura like a large leak in his side.

Finally deciding on a course of action, Jaune shot some water at the lava to test how the lava reacted to the water. Next, he launched some more jets at the most prospective islands, each jet calculated to use the least amount of aura. The warm water gushed from the crystal at high pressure, the arc disturbing the air around it as it flew.

Jaune carefully watched each jet using his cameras, noting the slight difference in splash height and densities. He only could risk running one such trial and so he had to be careful in choosing the right location.

One prospective location proved to be the one he was looking out for. There was less gas escaping from that splash due to its low explosiveness. There was no way to accurately find the distance so he would have to wing the jump.

 _So easy a super powered caveman could do it. Right._

Jaune crouched and picked Raven up again, carrying her as he had before. He adjusted his footing, getting the best possible grip on the disappointingly smooth surface. He took a deep breath, adrenaline starting to pump once more. He pushed off the ground, speed increasing with each step as he covered the ten-foot wide island.

He reached the edge and leaped, accompanied by a loud bang as the pressurized sac of air he had collected behind him burst. He shot forwards, like a pellet from an airsoft gun. He angled himself so his feet faced forwards, reducing air resistance. He kept Raven's unconscious form tight to him, keeping their net surface area low. He could still feel her warmth which was surprising given their surroundings.

His view of the island grew clearer, the black mass contrasting with the bright, almost white seething lava. There was another island close by, much closer than this one had been. With the speed that Jaune was falling at, there was a way to make it to the other island.

Jaune pulled his and Raven's legs up, forming a cannonball. He sent all his aura that was actively covering him to his feet, forming a night impenetrable barrier. The shiny surface approached and Jaune could see the two of them falling towards the surface as if in slow motion.

He could see his armor, scratched, dinged, and burned in places where he had reduced his aura. Raven was cut and burned in similar places. Jaune had covered her in his own aura, but kept the protected locations to the minimum.

Jaune could imagine his own face behind the visor, eyes narrowed in concentration. A single mistake would be fatal. His red hair would be a complete mess, no doubt.

His thoughts were interrupted as time sped up again and he slammed into the hard surface at breakneck speeds. The force of the collision compressed his aura like a spring, all the kinetic energy of their flight getting stored as potential energy.

Jaune cringed as his visor almost brushed the stony ground. It held there for a millisecond, Jaune staring at himself. Then the potential energy finished its community chat about the future of its state and decided to split off and become thermal and kinetic energy.

Shards flew in every which way as the two bounced off the island, flying towards the next one. Jaune slowed himself down slightly, adjusting the arc so that landing wouldn't be too hard. He breathed a sigh of relief as he approached the apex of the flight. The bouncing maneuver had been stressful, but he had done it. He wondered what the next chall… what the hell was that?

A pillar of lava shot up on his right, illuminating his surroundings and piercing through the haze.

 _OH SHIIIIIII_

Jaune poured aura into his Wind Crystal, almost giving himself whiplash at the sudden acceleration upwards. He flew over his target island and passed into a hole in the side of the cliff that had seemingly materialized in front of him. He dragged along the ground, creating yet another furrow in the Earth.

He came to a stop, covered in bits and pieces of rock with Raven lying on top of him. He shifted her weight off, quickly taking a look around where he had ended up now.

It was a tunnel similar to the one where they had found the metal wall, though this one didn't seem to be the same one, thankfully.

 _ **60% aura remaining.**_

 _Hmm. Better than I expected, in all honestly._

He looked up the corridor and saw nothing moving. It was just the rock and nothing else. Nothing at all. Jaune went back to the edge of the hole, peering out into the blinding light. The pillar of lava had covered the island he had been aiming for with lava.

It had been way too close. Jaune set up a Barrier Crystal at the entrance and started down the hallway, intending to scout the tunnel.

Countless watchful, alert eyes followed his every movement.

…

 **Corporal Shard Tiran**

Shard was getting bored. They had been stopping and rechecking for traps every couple hundred feet, a process that took five minutes each time, making even the rough mile of descent a huge pain.

She glanced back at her scroll, the aura residue readings higher than normal. The intruders had used aura to descend and it had left traces on the walls and rope of the elevator. The graph was occasionally spiking slightly, no doubt where they had used a little bit more aura than intended. Nothing unexpected.

The elevator started descending again. This stretch would take them to the first landing platform, where they suspected the intruders had entered the mines.

"Stopping in 3…2….1." Shard read aloud from the display.

"All guns pointed out, be on high alert!" Jacques yelled, pointing his own rifle forwards. Shard took her place near the back once more, protected by three of her squad mates. Her scroll was in one hand and the other held the aura probe.

The doors dinged open and the squad moved out into the corridor. Her aura readings climbed a little higher as the doors opened, which confirmed the fact that their quarry had gone down this path.

"Confirmed read." Shard spoke up quietly, turning on the basic night vision that was standard in all the soldier's helmets. The squad continued down the corridor, infrared flashlights helping light the way.

They had been walking for a while when the aura probe went off the scales, showing readings that should not have been possible.

She unplugged and plugged it back into her scroll, restarted the software and even the scroll itself. There was no mistaking it. Something had happened in this tunnel that had released incredible amounts of aura.

"Sir? Can you take a look at these aura readings? We may have something big on our hands here."

Jacques called for a halt and walked over. He peered over her shoulder as she clicked from readout to graph, showing him the steadily and quickly increasing readout of the probe. It was well above regular aura usage, as noted by a helpful horizontal yellow line. It was even above harmful levels, anyone who must have expelled all that aura would be exhausted by now.

"Let's get closer to the source and see if we can figure out what caused it. Shard, run scans. You two…" Shard tuned her leader out as she focused on the readings. It was part of her training to identify the difference between the residues left by different auras, and she intended to put that to good use here.

The whole squad waited while she worked. Two scouts had been sent ahead to see the aftermath of the aura usage and hadn't come back yet.

After some time wrestling with complex math, graphs, and error analysis, Shard had a pretty good lock on the two different auras that were at play here.

"Sir!" Shard went to the squad leader, holding an impromptu report on her scroll. She started the presentation. "Field reports by the MIA Mercenary Hunter Kalo Black have indicated that two intruders broke into this mine earlier today. The aura readings in this site indicate that the two passed through this corridor. I have managed to differentiate between the two auras and here are the characteristics of both auras, saved as evidence in case of capture."

She pulled up a picture of two auras. One was black, red, and wispy. It coiled around itself, the black and red parts moving as two. The other one was a solid, glowing white, unmoving and unyielding.

She pointed at the black and red one first. "This one was found in trace quantities in this area, completely overwhelmed by this one here." She pointed at the white one. "This one was like a blanket over the region, almost completely overwhelming everything. My guess is that there was some sort of large scale eruption of aura further on."

Jacques looked away from the report and at her. "What does this mean for them?"

Shard fidgeted slightly. "It means that the person who channeled that much aura is probably dead. A very low chance of still being alive, about 3% if the person was particularly strong. If whoever this white aura belongs to died, their body is probably still here and the scouts should be able to find it, given the person with the black and red aura didn't carry it away."

Jacques took another look at the graphs, the worry apparent on his face. Shard understood the reason completely. To have this much aura meant you were an extremely experienced aura user. To have to use that much aura means something had put you in a very desperate situation. Something that would undoubtedly kill any of the soldiers with ease.

"I'm calling for backup. Let's dig in here and wait for them to arrive. Corporal, continue to monitor the area for anything unusual."

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune walked forward through the semi-darkness, senses extremely alert. The air had slightly thickened a distance from the entrance to the tunnel. It had continued to thicken almost imperceptibly. His aura almost seemed to be increasing its hold on his body, something he had never seen it do before.

Along with the slight pressure, he started feeling almost like he was walking on mud. Each step was slightly harder to take than usual and he had to actively pull his feet up with each step. He stopped once to examine the ground, but it was still normal. He even concentrated his aura under his feet to push himself off the ground slightly, but it did nothing at all.

After 500 feet, the air felt like a soft blanket wrapped around him, not suffocating but tight. He felt like he was walking through 4 inches of snow, having to pull his feet up with each step.

After 1000 feet, his head felt like it was covered by a tightly wound scarf. His clothes felt uncomfortably tight on him. Wind rustled around him, finding every opening in his clothes, icy daggers coming to rest in his abdomen.

 _We're a mile underground, where is this wind coming from?_

Jaune looked around, seeing only whiteness around him, his arms wrapped around himself. The wind picked up slightly, blowing snow into his face.

 _Snow? What the…_

He shook his head, trying to clear what must be a hallucination. He was a mile underground in a Dust mine. There was no way that there would be snow here, especially not a snowstorm!

Jaune looked up. Dark grey clouds blended with the dark white sky, sending down pure white snow. He caught a couple flakes in his hands, trying to determine their composition. They appeared to be watery, though who knew?

He kept walking forwards, some feeling inside of him telling him it was a good idea. Something dark loomed in the distance ahead of him. It was the only thing that wasn't snow, snow, and more snow.

He reached the site after a fair bit of walking, the broken and destroyed pillars of the ancient looking temple poking up through the snow. The dark red blocks contrasted with the pure whiteness of the snow, looking like blocky congealed splashes of blood.

He ascended a set of stairs, his footsteps compressing the snow. He could barely see the curved runes inscribed on the stone. They looked distantly familiar, like a person you saw once as a child.

The wind had slowly been increasing in intensity and Jaune had gone numb long ago. His aura and Dust either weren't working properly, or it was much colder than he thought. The incessant howl got quieter once he passed through the doorway at the top of the stairs.

He pulled a hood off his head, keeping the scarf still wrapped around his face. He crept forwards down the hallway in front of him. The slightly familiar runes were inscribed on the walls in greater quantities, though they weren't repeated as the ones on the steps had been. That must have been some sort of chant, this was more of a story.

He stepped back from the wall to get a better look. The large area above the inscriptions was filled with wild splashes and lines of color and they made no sense to Jaune. There were circles and ellipses, squares, triangles, curves, angles, and many other geometric shapes.

He reached out to the wall, tracing the raised lines of layered paint. He traced a line of red from the bottom of the wall to where a medley of lines intersected, forming an even larger ridge.

He continued down the hallway. The inscriptions continued, the text never repeating. That supported his theory of the entire thing being a story, but how did that connect with the abstractness of the art?

He traced the red line unconsciously, the texture soothing to his fingers. He pulsed his aura into the line on an instinct and was disappointed when the aura simply disappeared. Nothing about the line or the art as a whole changing.

He kept walking, the paintings somehow getting wilder, the number of closed shapes lessening and the number of open shapes increasing. The shapes almost seemed like they had broken, their sides jagged and distorted. The splashes of color clashed rather than harmonizing like they had before.

A podium of sorts appeared out of the darkness as Jaune continued to walk. It was fashioned from a silvery metal, with blue paint tracing its edges and creating jagged shapes on its faces. They pulsed light blue and white every 5 seconds, the white flashes increasing in frequency as he got closer.

The paintings on either side of the podium abruptly ended in line with the podium. The dominant color in the past 30 feet had been blue and white and closed shapes had once again dominated the scenes.

No buttons, switches, or active components of any kind could be seen on the podium. Everything past the podium was pitch black, invisible to even Jaune's night vision goggles.

Something in him urged him to place his hands on the podium, just to satisfy his curiosity. What could go wrong? It's just a flat surface, it's not like it will do anything. Better to know than to regret never knowing. C'mon, put a hand on, you know you want to…

Jaune gasped. His hands were half raised towards the podium and his feet were already starting to step towards it. He regained control of his limbs, reviewing everything that had just happened.

He had been utterly convinced by some reason or logic that touching the podium was the right thing to do. Why was he so fearful of doing it now? It's just a silly podium. Do you not want to know what lies beyond the podium?

Jaune clenched his hands. That sealed it. He knew his own thoughts, and these particular ones were most definitely foreign. Jaune started backing away from the podium, trying to see if distance would help.

Sweat started dripping into his eyes and he raised a hand to wipe it away before freezing. He had a scarf wrapped around his face and it was supposed to be way below freezing in the building. How was it so hot now? Come to think about it, why had he even wanted to come here?

Jaune glanced down at his arms to see if any other part of his attire had somehow changed, only to gape in shock. He was at the pedestal, his hands pressed onto the flat surface.

He tried to pull his hands away but every attempt was futile. Even his legs were immobile, leaving only his torso free to move. The podium surface started to glow a light blue, the metal itself coming alive with the color.

Jaune's hands disappeared into the bright glare. The light grew steadily brighter until the hallway was completely white.

The light reached its peak and then dimmed suddenly. Jaune gasped again as he felt something flow through his arms into the podium, his arms shaking in place. He grit his teeth as pain lanced through every corner of his body. His muscles spasmed, sending even more pain through his body.

The pain vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving Jaune feeling sick to his stomach. He slouched over the podium, his hands and feet now free to move. Something blasted out of the podium and launched him backwards. He landed on his back and groaned as he stood up.

The podium pulsed white thrice, each pulse dimmer than the last. The metal disappeared, leaving behind a bundle of light hovering above the floor. It floated forwards, illuminating the previously dark sections of the walls.

They seethed, colors popping up and disappearing, lines forming, curling, cutting, and widening. Shapes grew and shrunk, solidified and broke. The eerie blackness of the end of the hallway had not gone away, but rather the light had managed to pierce it.

The shapes continued to seethe even as the light passed by, as if unable to make up their minds. A door loomed out of the shadows as the light approached. It looked like it was made of solid metal, similar to the metal wall he and Raven had destroyed.

The difference here was that there were two large ridges that arced from the bottom to the top, one curving and the other right like a V. Smaller ridges branched off every so often, with even smaller ridges branching off those.

The light reached the base of the door and started climbing, splicing off pieces of itself as it rose. The tree-like structure started glowing white as the light climbed up it, but soon tinges of red started to seep in, turning the tree a light red, then a blood red. As the light reached the top, it looked almost angry.

The whole structure pulsed once all the 'branches' were filled with light, almost tangible menace oozing from the structure. Some of the shapes on the walls closest to the podium started to solidify.

A low rumble shook the hallway, then again, and again. There was definitely a rhythm to it.

 _Laughter._ Jaune realized with a start.

A bright red, flame-like burst of light ran down the length of the door, cutting the door in half. The rest of the door started to dissolve, the light doing nothing to penetrate the darkness but only serving to make it darker.

Jaune started stumbling backwards, head swirling with possibilities. Something had forced his body to do something that he felt he shouldn't have. It was as if a dam had burst in his head, flooding his mind with questions.

 _Why the hell did I think that leaving Raven alone was a good idea? Why did I think that not turning back when the world turned snowy was a good idea? Why the hell did I walk to this…whatever it is. And now a dark ominous door is opening up thanks to my touch, something is laughing and I really should get going._

He turned around and almost froze in midstep at the sight. The walls still looked the same, but somehow now he could understand the language. The shapes made sense to him, the lines and color baring their meanings to him.

There was something about trapping something after great effort, a divine being of some sort, a ritual. A loud roar interrupted his reverie and pulled him back to the real world.

He glanced over his shoulder to see the door dissolving into nothingness, the metal dissolving into nothingness. Jaune had no idea how any of this worked, the physics of it made no sense. Mass just disappearing into nothingness? Impenetrable darkness? Something was very wrong here.

Jaune sprinted forwards, running backwards through the story. He caught glimpses of it as he ran. Battles lost and won, blood spilled, betrayals, desperation, hope. He ran past it all, the story getting lighter and happier as he ran back to the entrance. The entire building shook, stones falling out of the ceiling.

Jaune felt something slam into his back and he fell and skid across the floor on his face.

" _ **We meet again, Aurawielder. You have grown soft since the last time, your mind very malleable. No matter, I think we shall enjoy this nonetheless.**_ "

The voice sounded as if it was coming from all around Jaune. The language that it spoke sounded similar to the one that Raven's body had spoken before they were pulled into the lava cavern. But the difference was that Jaune could now understand him. Maybe it had something to do with him activating the podium?

"Who are you? Were you the one behind that door?" Jaune stood up once more. He glanced behind him, expecting something to come barreling at him. He still couldn't see what had caused him to fall and that put him on edge. If he couldn't see the source of the force, then it was either a field acting on him or the source was moving too fast for him to see. Neither of those sounded like a fun time to him.

" _ **Do you truly have no memory, Aurawielder? I remember our last meeting with exquisite clarity. The torture, the pain, the humiliation you laced upon me. Revenge shall be sweet.**_ " The voice rumbled through the stones of the building itself.

"Nah, no thanks. Gotta get home y'know. Maybe later?" Jaune didn't wait for a response. He turned and ran back towards the exit, slipping through the door way as more laughter caused the hallway to shake dangerously.

" _ **I do not know what happened since we last met Aurawielder, seeing as you trapped me in this prison, but I know you are not the person you once were. Stop resisting, I will impart the same amount of pain no matter how much you struggle.**_ "

Jaune sprinted through the snow, his feet being pulled down by the snow. The air itself pushed him back, the wind collecting in every crevice in his outfit and creating massive pressure. Jaune struggled forwards, using aura to boost his strength. He ran in the direction he thought he had come in, the old steps completely wiped out by the wind.

" _ **Trying to escape? I'd like to see you try.**_ " Jaune looked over his shoulder to try and see if there was anything chasing him. Nothing. He sighed slightly and took a deep breath. No air came.

Jaune tried again, his nostrils flaring, mouth open. Air refused to go in. He tried to activate a couple Wind crystals but there was no difference in his situation.

" _ **Did you not hear the warning? Did you lose your intelligence with your memories?**_ "

 _What warning...oooooooh._ Jaune remembered the strange words that Raven had spoken with clarity, the meaning clear to him now. _Beware the dark, beware of your senses, beware the ground. Heed or die. Would've been friggin useful about an hour ago!_

Jaune held his breath, trying to get as much oxygen from the air in his lungs as possible. The higher the pressure, the more oxygen he could extract from the air. The only problem was that the only way to increase the pressure was to heat it up or add more air.

Heating it up would not be a fun experience and would likely burn his insides, something that would require lots of aura to heal fully. Jaune set that off for an emergency and focused on running.

His lungs were burning now, his feet feeling like they were trying to meld with the ground with each step. He used aura as a pure energy source now, trying to channel energy directly into his legs. That would hopefully keep the cellular metabolism going and the lack of aerobic respiration would be ignored. Hopefully.

He looked over his shoulder once again. Fog had covered the land, a dark red light diffusing through it, throwing shadows that shifted with the fog. It approached quickly, the light pulsing with each rumble that went through the ground.

Jaune turned to look forward again and sent every ounce of aura he could into himself, trying to get as much mileage as he could. He closed his eyes, completely on getting out of this snowy hell. He actually looked forward to going back over the lava pool!

" _ **So it seems you have not lost your will to live nor your ability to survive. You will not escape this hell I guarantee it.**_ "

Jaune continued to pour aura into himself, his HUD throwing up warnings about 'excess aura usage' and 'exhaustion imminent'. Even if he had 40% aura remaining, exhaustion could set in due to prolonged aura usage. Jaune decided to worry about that later.

Jaune crested a small hill, memory getting jogged slightly. He had crested this hill almost immediately after coming here. Jaune picked up the pace, muscles screaming in agony, chest about to burst. His warnings were now blinking extremely urgently but he ignored them all, trying to make it out.

" _ **HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE AURAWIELDER? YOU SHALL NOT LEAVE!**_ "

 _Oh shut up, I'm getting out of here, your opinion is not needed on the matter. Please zip it._

The wind quieted down, lowering the pressure against him slightly. Jaune's speed increased with the lowering in pressure.

" _ **No, you cannot, no!**_ "

Jaune felt like he was pushing through molasses at this point. The wind was the first thing to die down. The snowfall was the next. His breathing came back next. The world went from grey and white to orange and brown.

He took quick gasps of air, refilling his lungs twice, thrice over. He lowered the amount of aura he was using, the aftereffects of channeling that much aura catching up to him. His muscles seized and relaxed, sending spasms through his body. His eyes watered and he stumbled to the ground trying not to retch into his helmet.

The dizziness clouded his mind and a killer headache set in. His brain felt like the two halves were trying to separate from each other. He took deep breaths and slowly calmed down. The headache slowly subsided while he lay on the ground in a fetal position.

When the world finally stopped hurting, Jaune struggled to his feet. He checked over all his equipment. None seemed damaged by the excessive cold which was a huge relief. His aura meter registered 35%, almost in the red.

This would be close.

…


	18. Contact

**Professor Ozpin**

 **Beacon Academy**

The broken moon shone brightly in the night sky, the light illuminating the city of Vale in dull white light. Beacon Academy stood watching over the city, a silent guardian, a symbol of hope.

The tallest tower glowed green, assuring the citizens of their safety. No matter what happened, Beacon would give their all to protect the city.

One beam illuminated the grey hair and peaceful face of a man in the tallest tower.

"You're sure about this?" Ozpin steepled his fingers and stared out the window in deep thought. His computer displayed Qrow's face on the monitor.

"I am sure." Qrow's voice came through the speakers. Ozpin continued to stare out at the city.

"How sure? Because if what you report is true…" Ozpin took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"I know what this means Ozpin." Qrow sounded tired. "But it's real and it's happening. We need to strike first before they can gather. It will only get worse from here."

"Our preparation is simply not enough at this point of time. If we act, we declare war and the results will not be pretty. We have only a handful of Hunters that stand a chance, and a few trainees that have the slightest glimmer of hope. We are facing an unstoppable army, led by an unknown Queen. I will not lead Beacon into a slaughter, not willingly." Ozpin's hands balled slightly, the only sign of emotion.

"I realize that and I am not asking you to sacrifice the kids. Ozpin, there is something more. There has been a breach of an SDC base, the Northern Wind to be exact. Atlas has deployed a squad to recon and are planning a full scale breach of the facility."

Ozpin turned back slowly to the monitor. His composition remained as stable as it always was, no emotions making their way past his exterior. "That is indeed unfortunate. Is there any word on who the trespassers are?"

"The consensus is that they are Hunter-trained, capable of using incredible amounts of aura as well as defeating the mercenary hunter that the SDC had hired to protect the mines. Other than residues of aura and unconscious guards, there are no traces of them. All this information is recent as of an hour ago, but I have nothing on anything from then to now."

"Do we have any idea what they would want from the SDC mines? They are obviously not White Fang." Ozpin was combing through his considerable mental database of potentials, trying to see if any of them would have any motive.

"Yes." Qrow sounded slightly regretful, his usual brash voice a little rougher. "Raven."

Ozpin's train of thought stalled for a split second, then continued at an accelerated pace. Ever since her first year at Beacon, Raven Branwen had stood out amongst the bright, excited Hunters-to-be.

Her view on the world had been markedly different than her peers. She called it 'realistic' while Ozpin called it 'overly critical'. She was strong willed and highly independent, with one of the best performance reports that Ozpin had seen during his time at Beacon.

She had come to the school with her brother, both of them as different as siblings could be. Qrow was brash, carefree, and confident. His easygoing nature, quick smile, and sense of humor helped him quickly make many friends at Beacon. He soon became one of the most popular students at school, along with his partner Taiyang Xiao Long.

Raven was very introverted and quiet, preferring her solitude to pursue her personal projects. The only people she tolerated around her had been her team, Qrow, Taiyang, and her partner Summer Rose. Together they formed Team STRQ, which was among the top teams to ever exit Beacon.

Qrow, Taiyang, and Summer had quickly fallen into their Hunter lifestyle very quickly and happily, eagerly completing mission after mission, their fame growing with each one. Raven however, as usual, had been aloof.

She would go out by herself for days at a time, then weeks, then even a couple months, always returning completely exhausted. No matter how much her team chastised her, her solo missions never stopped.

Ozpin had kept an eye on her throughout her time at Beacon, gathering enough information on her to create the biggest file out of any of the students. Ozpin always made sure to have a teacher talk to each student at least once about their reasons for wanting to be a Hunter.

Most wanted glory for themselves, a chance to prove themselves, revenge for others harmed by Grimm, a chance to be a hero, and many other such selfish reasons. There were only a few that applied to Beacon for a selfless reason, but only one so far had done it for themselves.

.

"I want to right wrongs." Raven said confidently, watching the clouds swirl in the sky outside the window. The evening sun illuminated everything in a rare mixture of pink and orange.

Ozpin sipped his coffee as he stood next to her. It had been an expected answer from Raven, she had never been one to do things for others. "What do you mean by that? Have the Grimm ever done you wrong? Hurt someone you loved? Hurt you?" Ozpin knew the answers but he wanted to hear how Raven would answer.

"Nothing like that, thankfully. The reason I wanted to be Hunter is to make a change in this world. There is far too much cruelty in this world, too much prejudice, too much hate and violence. The Grimm are just one facet of it. Look at the Faunus, how they are treated. They act the same as us, feel the same as us, have the same aura as us, but most people don't see that. They look at their physiological differences, the horns, claws, ears, eyes, tails and they see animals. Even a pet is treated far better than many Faunus are." Raven's voice was controlled and even as usual, but Ozpin could detect the emotions underneath.

Ozpin said nothing as Raven continued to speak. It was far easier to understand a person when they were emotional than it was to understand them when they were cold and in control.

Raven took a deep breath and stopped talking and continued to stare out the window.

Ozpin took another sip. "You want to correct human wrongs?"

Raven stayed silent. Ozpin stood silently, sipping his coffee. He knew she would speak, given enough time. That was the magic behind silences, humans always want to fill them when their patience runs out.

Airships crawled around in the sky above the city, looking like birds flying into the sun. The trees rustled and the grass waved in the wind. Students lounged around the grounds, laughing and enjoying their day off.

"If you want to call it that, then yes."

"And why did you apply to Beacon to pursue this? There are much more direct ways of pursuing this goal, like a career in politics for example."

"Politics?" Raven snorted. "Nothing in this world is ever solved by talking about it. Every major decision is a result of action. The Faunus Rights Bill? No one was willing to approve it until after the war. Fair Compensation Act? Again, protests and threats of faunus rebellion forced the politicians' hands."

Ozpin could see where she was going with this.

"So you think force is the answer." It wasn't a question so Raven didn't answer. The silence was enough.

After a long silence, Ozpin took the last sip of his coffee. "Well, I won't say I approve of your decision nor your outlook, but I am not the best person to talk to about making decisions."

Raven continued to stand silently as he walked away.

.

Ozpin nursed his coffee cup as he sat in thought. Ever since she had left Beacon, she had gained notoriety among the criminal world. She had done many 'jobs', be it theft, extortion, even assassinations. Her name was never mentioned explicitly and so Ozpin had decided not to confront her.

Ozpin knew that she was just using

Until one day that she just disappeared. None of Ozpin's contacts could give him any answers about her or her location. It was like she had disappeared off the face of Remnant.

There was no reason for the disappearance, none at all. She had her team back home, even a young daughter she had with Taiyang. Her team waited for three months before growing worried. They eschewed missions they otherwise would have taken, searching the wilds of Remnant in an attempt to locate her and bring her back. Yang, her daughter, had been confused at the time, repeatedly asking for her mother.

Two years passed, and the fight went out of the three. There was no sign of Raven, no call home. Taiyang managed to move on and settled down with Summer Rose, eventually having a kid they named Ruby.

 _And now she's back. When did she decide to meddle again? Why hasn't she contacted her family again?_

Qrow was still waiting for a response. "You are sure? How did you figure this out?"

"The team sent in by Atlas scanned the aura residue left behind. I only managed to get a glimpse of the images before I left to give this report to you. The aura was most definitely Raven's."

Ozpin didn't question Qrow's judgement. "You said there were two infiltrators? Who was the second?"

Qrow grimaced. He hated reporting speculation, it undermined the overall validity of his information. But if what he thought was true, it would change things.

"A solid white aura, unchanging and static like a wall or a shield. I have seen such an aura before, and I daresay you have too."

"Jaune Arc." Ozpin's voice was as calm as usual, but his minds whirled with thoughts. "Are you sure? He would have had to leave his room without alerting his teammates, escape the base, make his way to the mining camp, and sneak his way in, all in the matter of a few hours."

"Well, the trip to the mining camp would've only taken a few moments, as long as Raven had been there before."

"Let's take this one problem at a time. How and why did Raven contact him?"

"I don't know about the how, but the why is pretty obvious. The kid's got brains for days."

Ozpin already knew the why, but the how bugged him. He thought back to all the times that Jaune had been unsupervised for lengths of time.

"The kidnapping. Jaune must have either been kidnapped on her orders, or she managed to somehow talk to him during his supposed escape."

Qrow laughed. "I knew that story of his was a load of crap. Managing to escape Torchwick and his mute companion? Not a chance."

"With an experienced Huntress like Raven, infiltration of the mining camp would've been easy. Jaune's expertise with computer would have come in handy in hacking the surveillance network, which explains the lack of an alarm."

"But if Jaune has left the base, that must mean he is no longer in his room with his team." Qrow mused out loud. "We can simply ask for a team report right now, spin it as an exercise for the future. God knows how many times I've been asked to report in at the oddest hours. Plus, we can determine his location if he picks up."

Ozpin thought about it for a second and then opened another channel, this time contacting Jaune's scroll. The two men waited tensely as the calling icon shook gently. A minute or two passed before the call went to voicemail.

Ozpin shut the call down and contacted Pyrrha's scroll next. This time, the call was picked up within the minute.

"Hello? Professor Ozpin? Is something the matter?" Pyrrha's hushed voice came through, sleepiness evident in each syllable.

"Ms. Nikos, I am sorry for waking you up at such an hour, but this is practice for the field, where you may be asked to report in at any stage."

"I understand Professor Ozpin. Would you like a report right now?" Pyrrha's voice got its confidence back.

"Yes please, Ms. Nikos."

Pyrrha started a quiet description of what they had been doing as a team for the past month or so. She told Ozpin about the progress they had been making as a team, how their team maneuvers had gotten more varied and complicated, with many different attacks and defenses for all sorts of scenarios and threats.

She described Jaune's work with Victor Polendina, how Nora had gotten much more focused and deadly with her hammer and semblance, able to fulfill the support role the team needed. Ren had gotten better at channeling his aura through his attacks and infuse it into his weapons. Pyrrha had practiced against countless types of weapons to develop strategies against each. She told him about the couple of Grimm missions they had gone on recently, which had all been easy. The Grimm population had dropped miraculously, freeing up plenty of time to practice.

"Professor, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes, Ms. Nikos, what is it?"

"Why did you contact me instead of Jaune?" Her voice dropped in volume. "Is it because of the maiden thing?"

"No Ms. Nikos. If all goes well you shall never have to make that decision. Just focus on your own skills, I will handle that side of things. The reason I called you directly is because your team leader Mr. Arc seems to not be picking up his scroll. Do you mind waking him up? I think a reprimand is in order, no?"

Ozpin heard Pyrrha groan slightly. "Yes Professor. I've trying to get him out of the habit of sleeping so deeply but he never learns. One second. _Pssst, Jaune wake up. Professor Ozpin is on the line. Jaune! Wake. Up."_

Ozpin waited patiently while Pyrrha attempted to wake up her leader.

"Uh, Professor, he isn't waking up. Generally, he feigns sleep to try and get some more sleep but this is just weird."

 _So Jaune is at the military base still, but somehow his aura left residue at the mining camp. Could he have come back already?_

"Professor! Something's wrong!" Pyrrha's voice sounded panicked. "I can't feel his aura! I double checked with my scroll and it's almost completely gone!"

Ozpin's eyes widened. "Pyrrha, monitor its progress and make sure it doesn't drop any lower. I shall contact the base and tell them to send a medical unit."

"Yes Professor. Shall I alert the rest of the team?" Pyrrha's voice was reigned back into tenuous control.

"Yes Pyrrha I think you should. I'll keep the line open, just ping it if anything comes up." Ozpin muted himself and sat back in his chair, absently sending an urgent request to the military base. _No aura? What could have caused that? Does it have something to do with his little excursion to the mining camp?_

"Qrow, I assume you heard what happened, yes? I want you to continue to stay at the mining camp, keep an eye if the two come out or if the recon squad finds something. Report to me directly."

"It's going to be a little hard to pass off a crow in a mile-deep cave as natural, but I'll try. Qrow out." Qrow's drawl came to a halt as the line died.

Ozpin sat for a minute mulling over the new developments taking place when a ringer interrupted his thoughts. Oobleck's face appeared on the screen. _Oobleck? Is there trouble in Mountain Glenn?_

"Professor! We have an emergency here! A series of large explosions have mobilized thousands of Grimm! They are now swarming their way to the tunnels leading to Vale! Team RWBY and I require immediate backup!" Oobleck's speech was as hurried as always, though there was a tinge of panic.

"Acknowledged. Send me your current location, I shall direct the reinforcements to you immediately." A packet of data came in and the line went silent. Ozpin scanned the location and sent it on its way.

 _A coordinated attack on Mountain Glenn to incite the Grimm, an infiltration of an important SDC mine, what else?_

His scroll started ringing again as his screen lit up with a half-dozen high importance calls.

 _Wonderful. I just had to say it._

…

 **Cinder Fall**

Cinder stood amongst the ruins of the city of Vale, enjoying the sight. Buildings lay collapsed on top of each other, fire ravaging through the glass and metal. The smoke hung low over the spectacle, creating a smoky taste that stung her tongue deliciously.

"All this corruption and greed, this filth that mankind has cultivated as good, all of it gone, destroyed, never to be seen again. This vision never gets old."

"And soon, it shall be a reality, Cinder. But we must be patient, our enemies are more meddlesome than they appear." The voice as usual was omnipresent and echoing, full of malice.

Cinder slightly flinched, despite her best effort. Somehow even after all these meetings, her voice seemed to incite something primal in her, a buried fight or flight response that urged her to take action.

"Even an ant is meddlesome but it is easily taken care of." Cinder responded, composure returning almost immediately. "What have they done now?"

"That is for me to handle. What you need to do is finish the job I have assigned you to do. How far along are you?"

"The plan proceeds faster than ever. With the weapons I bought from the Prometheans, I have made our alliance with the White Fang even stronger. Guns and equipment make terrorists happy, who knew? Now with even more equipment and men, I estimate we can start our assault as soon as favorable."

"Excellent work, Cinder, excellent. Have you started the Mountain Glenn assault? If we can get Vale to focus on the tunnel system, an attack from the inside will be the last thing they will expect. "

"The Mountain Glenn assault goes well. We even have some of the meddlesome brats from Beacon there. Even now the fools think they can stop the horde of Grimm and are trying to fight. The Grimm shall overrun them soon." Cinder preened, pleased with herself.

"No, ensure that none of them die."

Cinder gazed around in confusion. Had she heard her right?

"I will take them all."

Cinder smiled.

…

 **Ruby Rose**

 **Mountain Glenn Ruins**

"Above you!"

Ruby ducked at Yang's exclamation, watching a Beowolf lunge through where her head had been a second ago. A burst of bullets peppered the beast as it flew through the air.

"Thanks guys!" Ruby called out, swinging her scythe through another Beowolf and cutting it in half.

The four of them, along with Professor Oobleck, were standing in a ruined intersection, surrounded by the dissolving bodies of the Grimm. Beowolves stalked around in the shadows of the empty streets.

"That was their first attack. They will regroup and try something new soon." Professor Ozpin clutched his thermos. "Ruby, you're the leader of the team, what is the necessary thing to do in this situation?"

Ruby looked around at the ever increasing mass of Beowolves. The longer they waited, the longer they would have to fight. This many Beowolves were no match for the huntresses-in-training even if Oobleck hadn't been there. The only concern was time and effort.

Ruby thought back to the leadership classes that all leaders took back at Beacon.

 _Number one rule when dealing with the Grimm, know their motive. I still don't get how that's more important than staying alive and on top, but apparently Glynda can never be wrong. Focus Ruby!_

The Beowolves had started harassing them when the 5 of them had started on their daily patrol of the destroyed city. It had started off normally, a group or two trying to attack and then failing to run off.

Soon the number had increased dramatically, from a group every 15 minutes or so to almost a constant stream. They had reached the intersection when they realized that the Beowolves had led them into an ambush.

Around 20 beowolves had been in the first wave, but the five of them had made short work of the pack. Somehow, despite the viciousness of the attacks, it didn't seem like the Beowolves were trying to kill them, just keep them surrounded in the intersection.

There were four streets out of the intersection. Two were narrow and easily defended while the other two were wide and easy to move around in. They would be hardest to defend, but the easiest to escape through. Unless they could somehow get onto the roofs…

"You guys up for some climbing? There's that pile of rubble we could use to hop into that hole in the store over there, making our way to the roofs. We can kill a good chunk of Grimm on the way there and then escape. If we hoof it, we can stay ahead of the pack and get to Hunter Base Harmony 5 kilometers away. Sound good?"

Weiss and Blake nodded silently, Oobleck looked at her approvingly and Yang slammed her fists together. The team was ready.

"Weiss, boost me. Yang and Blake, soften them up. Let's get 'em!" Ruby exclaimed. She switched Crescent Rose into its longer, sleeker version, the blade's tip pointing at the enemy.

Weiss waved her rapier and a glowing white glyph formed under Ruby's feet. Ruby jumped, the glyph shooting her forwards. Petals swirled around her as she hacked and slashed, heads and limbs flying as she cut her way through the ranks of the Grimm.

She heard Blake's guns and Yang's shotguns firing and hitting the Grimm all around her. With a final motion, Ruby skewered a Beowolf and used its body as a pivot to spin up and around, landing on the roof.

Blake and Yang were already there, along with Weiss and Oobleck.

"Solid distraction sis! Way to go!" Yang cheered and swept Ruby up in a bear hug.

"Great job Ruby! That was some excellent control over your weapon and yourself. Splendid, absolutely splendid!" Oobleck praised her, taking a sip from his thermos.

Ruby took one last look at the carnage she had left behind, red rose petals laying on dissolving black corpses. Even now the survivors were sniffing around and growling as they searched for the team.

"Alright, let's go before…" A loud roar interrupted her, the cry followed by 5 more, each sounding closer than the last.

"Yep, before that." They all turned and sprinted away from the noise and towards the Hunter Base.

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune sat down in the bright, lava-lit cave, letting the ground take his weight. His legs ached and his head swam. His aura was dangerously low and he only had one aura crystal left. He had been saving it for an emergency to use it on either him, or Raven if things got that desperate.

He watched the crystal, light refracting and reflecting in it, giving it an iridescent translucence. He turned it over looking at each face, thinking about the encounter he had just escaped from. Everything had happened too fast to process in the moment.

Firstly, where had he ended up? It fit the locale of the base, if it snowed twice as much around the base. He had seemingly trekked for half a mile or so, sprinting using aura for most of the time.

Then there was the question of the temple.

The structure was rundown and ancient, and looked like it had been there for millennia. The story that had been written on the walls, Jaune could remember everything about them but the actual images and the meanings behind them. Something about an ancient battle, but beyond that there was nothing.

The podium was the next point of interest. It felt eerily out of place in the ancient temple, like finding a ringing cell phone in the middle of a pyramid. He still couldn't remember putting his hands on the podium. He remembered everything before that, but the actual act was still out of mental reach.

After the podium had activated and sent that burst of light to the closed door, the door had seemed to come apart, as if the energy contained inside it was quite literally burning it away. Someone or something had started communicating after the door had fully opened.

It had called him Aurawielder, which meant that whatever it was, it knew about aura and that Jaune could use it. The jury was still out on how Jaune had managed to understand it. It could've been speaking English, or Jaune understood it the same way that he had somehow understood the paintings on the walls.

The word Aurawielder stuck in his head like a burr on a sweater, irritating him irrationally. The term hadn't seemed general, it had sounded like a personal title, a proper noun. And the way the voice had said it made it sound almost like an insult.

Jaune groaned into his hands. _These goddamn mysterious voices and their agendas. Gaaaah._

Jaune had managed to escape whatever _thing_ he had summoned. Despite his exhaustion, Jaune smiled. Irritating the thing had been fun. It sounded like keeping Jaune in that domain was the thing's intention and Jaune's escape had caused him great anguish.

Jaune put the crystal back in his bag and stretched in place. His wounds had all but healed, his aura stable at 35%. He looked back out at the lava, seeing platforms in the direction he came, as well as platforms in another direction. He would have followed that path had it not been for that pillar of lava that had caused him to fly into the hole.

Jaune squatted and watched the lava closely, trying to see anything off. He could barely see in the glare of the molten rock, but from what he able to see, nothing seemed to be any different. Nothing moving beneath the surface but gas bubbles, no sign of a buildup that would explain the sudden burst.

Jaune frowned and went back to Raven. There were times he wished he could just store everything he wanted in an inventory in some pocket universe, just so he could lug around his equipment wherever he wanted. But we couldn't all have what we wanted, now could we?

The trip back would be a huge pain because he would have to somehow boost all the way up to a hole in the cliff, which would take an immense chunk out of his aura. Jaune did calculations, trying to see how he could shave weight off the trip. He piled his used aura crystals and used Dust crystals on the floor. The Dust could still be used, but it wouldn't be as efficient as fresh Dust which he had plenty of.

He took off the smaller, less-necessary items of armor, things like joint protection. His helmet was important as it fed him all the sensory information that he relied on. His sword had to stay with him, and so did his chest piece.

There really wasn't much he could take off, he had designed the entire ensemble to be light and he had done it well. He was loath to part with his gloves, but they were way too heavy to consider flying with. If he had more aura, he would have taken them. He removed the vials from inside the metal carefully and slotted them under his armor, making sure they couldn't be hit accidentally. He removed most of the explosives and gadgets from his belt. They were the heaviest thing after his armor and sword, and thus had to go.

He put the pouches in a small pile on the ground along with the rest of the discarded items. He rechecked everything, making sure that everything that he could afford to take off was gone. Now for the hard part.

He walked to Raven's side and kneeled next to her unconscious body. She didn't wear much armor, and whatever she did was undoubtedly selected to be crucial. He also didn't feel comfortable taking clothing off an older unconscious woman.

Her sword and sheath both were quite important to her, but not useful in the current scenario. Jaune had his own sword to fight with. If Raven was in any situation to fight, she would teleport the two of them out before taking part in the battle itself. The amount of Dust that Raven had packed into her sheath caused it to weigh a disproportionate amount.

He set the sword and sheath on the ground next to the pile and turned back to her. The only other thing that had any chance of being non-crucial was her mask. Jaune stared at it. Raven had never taken it off in front of him before. It was obvious she was comfortable around him and had no reason to be apprehensive, which made him question the reason she needed the mask.

As far as he knew, the mask didn't do much other than conceal her face and give her night vision, but she had to be wearing it for some reason, right? It didn't look like the most comfortable of masks, what with all the spikes and sharp edges. He doubted she put velvet and satin inside.

The mask itself looked like it was made of metal, the Grimm-flavored design and colors giving her an ominous, foreboding, and even terrifying look, something the White Fang tried to with their masks but just couldn't pull off. If Jaune hadn't known her, he would not have dared get anywhere near the wrong side of her.

Jaune's hand hovered over the heavy-looking mask, thinking over his decision. Was taking off the heavy mask worth risking her ire? Jaune rechecked everything else still not discarded. All of it was essential to the mission. Jaune chuckled. Out of everything today, this was the hardest decision to make?

Jaune unhooked the clasps on the back and moved them to the side. The back unfolded and moved to the side like two wings, completing the Nevermore motif. Jaune heaved slightly and pulled the mask off, setting it aside and trying not to look at her face. He respected her choice of not showing her face and the least he could do was not to consciously look himself. There was no advantage in looking and there was the risk of drawing her ire if he looked. Easy decision.

Jaune closed his eyes and picked her body up, setting her over his shoulder as he had before. He turned back to the chasm and rechecked his calculations. Everything checked out. If everything went right, then he would only have to use 5% of his aura, 7% max. Jaune took a running start and jumped into the heat and light.

…

 **Shard Tiran**

Shard watched the graph on her scroll, bored despite the strange circumstances. They had been dug in for half an hour, the place silent as a grave.

Jacques had commanded the squad to maintain absolute silence, leaving Shard alone with her scroll while the others scouted up and down the tunnel, carrying probes and watching for movement.

The graph hadn't changed much while they were there, nominally decreasing as the aura residue slowly spread and got diluted.

She caught Mau's eye as he returned from his patrol down the hallway. He gave his report in a low voice, showing the commander something on the scroll. Jacques' expression tightened slightly as Mau flicked through, pointing at certain things.

Jacques took the scroll and approached Shard, still flicking through what Shard assumed were pictures Mau had taken. Shard got to her feet and stood at attention, waiting for Jacques to start speaking.

"Shard, how long until the reinforcements get here?"

She blinked, trying to remember the estimation she had been given the last time she had requested backup.

"Around 20 minutes on the long side, 15 if they hurry."

Jacques just nodded and handed her the scroll. "These pictures show some sort of barrier that was blasted by our perps."

Shard focused on the pictures that showed the hole in the metal. "Looks like a chemical explosive, any use of Dust would have made a cleaner hole, not to mention the immense cost of using that much aura."

"So that confirms they didn't use aura. Now we need another theory to explain this." Jacques took the scroll back and tapped a few times, sending a data file to Shard's scroll. She opened the file and almost did a double take.

"Sir, is this data accurate? I mean…" Shard was lost for words.

"It is accurate as far as we know. There were no error messages from the probe, rather, there was one from the communications array." Mau spoke up, sending her another file.

Shard read the contents of the error message and then reread it to make sure she had read everything right. "So the reason Mau didn't send this data to us from the site was because of the concentration of aura residue there? I have never seen this before."

"Well Corporal, looks like we have a unique situation on our hands. Keep a level head, and we'll get out of this just fine. Mau, run more scans of the area, try to see if you can get some samples for Shard to examine. Shard, continue keeping an eye on the graphs. I want immediate notification if anything happens." Jacques went to take another report from a team that had been sent to the surface.

Mau grinned as he turned to leave. "Like he said, keep a level head and we won't screw this up too badly."

Shard smiled and nudged him. Mau was right, as long as they didn't make any mistakes, they would have this in the bag. They had backup, and the two perpetrators didn't. Everything was going to be fine.

…

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby jumped into the air and slashed a Beowolf in half as it leaped at Weiss, the two halves of its body landing on the roof of the building and sliding off. Weiss nodded at her as the team leaped across a gap between roofs.

Ruby pulled out her scroll with one hand, very slight use of her semblance allowing her to catch up to her team whenever she got behind. She had contacted the Hunter base to request an artillery or air strike on their location to cover their escape, as well as a shuttle to evacuate the city.

There had been no reply yet, no matter how many times she had sent the distress signal. The message was going through since there was no automated error reply. Ruby stashed the scroll away again and sprinted to catch up to her team.

There was a kilometer left until they got to the base and Ruby decided that they would see what to do after they got there.

Yang punched a Beowolf out of the air and its shattered body slammed into the ground beneath the blonde brawler who didn't even break stride. The attacks were getting more and more frequent as they kept going, almost as if the Grimm knew they were coming and had sent Beowolves to intercept.

Not that it did anything. The four of them were one of the best teams in their year, and maybe in the first two years at Beacon. The Beowolves, rather than hindering them, actually helped them by keeping them focused and combat-ready.

The trickiest part was the terrible state of the buildings under them. Most of the time they had to run along titled slabs of roof that were littered with cracks and holes. Some buildings had survived relatively unharmed and those were the ones where they would gain the most ground and where she would check her scroll.

Ruby slashed another Beowolf in half with a twirl of Crescent Rose while Blake embedded her cleaver in another's brain, spinning to decapitate it. Oobleck hadn't said anything to them yet, something that was slightly off-putting to anyone who knew the Professor.

They continued running in silence, killing Beowolves without a second thought. The scenery flew by, the destruction quickly losing its shock value. They occasionally saw some larger Grimm stalking around on the streets and deftly avoided those areas. Taking on a pack on Beowolves along with assorted Major Grimm was not a good idea.

The buildings were now 10 stories high, making each jump slightly riskier. Going off of the change in scenario, the base should be…right there. They stopped on the edge of the hollow skyscraper and looked at the bright base that was situated near the edge of downtown. Turrets were active and turning to scan the surroundings and the fence around the perimeter hummed dangerously in the quiet night.

"Normally a Hunter base would establish contact and let us enter by verifying our scrolls, but due to the circumstances, "Oobleck pointed at Ruby's scroll. "We're going to have to break in. The turrets are only configured to attack Grimm targets; though physical barriers will still block us."

"You mean we're literally breaking in?" Yang sounded way too excited.

"Yes, Ms. Xiao Long, we're breaking in."

Yang laughed and cocked her gauntlets. "Don't worry Doctor, I think we got this."

…

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune landed on the platform roughly, his legs absorbing most of the shock. The jump hadn't been that bad, but then again it wasn't a very high jump. Now Jaune had two options: right, to where he had originally been teleported to, or left to places unknown.

The choice would have been obvious, but he had no idea what was going on with that corridor he had landed in. It had seemed to loop in on itself, making a closed loop while still having an opening. Jaune wasn't sure if he wished to go back and break his mind trying to rethink every concept of topology he knew.

But he had no idea what lay along the other path. The path could end up going on farther than he could physically travel, it could loop in on itself, it could teleport him to another cavern, there was no way of telling.

99% certainty of dead end vs 100% unknown path? Man, this was not how I thought my day would go. Cue laugh track and applause.

Jaune stretched while he thought. There would have to be another path out of this place, the platforms seemed to have been placed very deliberately which meant that they had some purpose. The cave he had been redirected to by that very strange pillar of flame was off the path of platforms and didn't look like a destination, more of a side path.

Jaune, after some calculations and estimations, decided to venture forwards for a couple platforms and then return if it looked hopeless. He sprinted and leaped to the next platform, the maneuver easy to execute now. He could feel the aura drain sap his strength but he ignored the exhaustion creeping over him.

He leapt off the platform to the next. The general pattern of this path seemed to be a gentle curve, like a horseshoe around some central point to his right. There only seemed to be a wall in the distance beyond the haze and Jaune decided to follow up on it after he got all of the day's craziness figured out.

Another wall appeared through the hazy air as he leaped onto the third, and it got clearer as he leaped to the fourth. Jaune saw another hole in the cliff wall ahead and he gathered his aura to assist in his jump up to the hole. It was much lower than the other two which made the jump much easier. There was another platform at right angles to the path he had currently followed, but Jaune ignored that for the time being. If his slowly forming hypothesis of this chamber was right, the hole in front of him would be the only path he would need to take.

Jaune sized up the distance and size of the hole and adjusted course appropriately, lowering his height and speed appropriately. The hole was about three meters in diameter and Jaune cleared the edges easily.

The bright red glare of the chamber gave way to darkness as Jaune skid to a stop. He let his sensors adjust to the change in lighting and took a look into the passage. It seemed like the others had, just rock walls continuing into the distance.

He looked behind him, the chamber appearing the same as it had been. No matter how many times he checked to confirm that nothing had changed in the chamber he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was missing something.

 _Eh, nothing I can do even if I forgot something. I'm lucky that path wasn't much longer, I'm already at 25%. Forgot to take cooling Raven's body into account._

Jaune walked down the tunnel as it curved to the right, the light from the lava chamber fading into obscurity quickly. Too quickly to be natural.

…

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

Pyrrha felt sick as she sat in the ambulance. It careened through the base to the army hospital, headlights bright in the predawn darkness.

Jaune lay on a stretcher in the middle of the ambulance, needles jammed into his body to monitor his vitals. He looked like he was completely unharmed, healthy, definitely not someone who would suddenly go comatose.

The paramedics had assured the rest of JNPR that there was nothing wrong with his vitals, it was just his aura that had completely disappeared. The medics had assured her that the doctors on site were experienced with aura related conditions and had seem a wide range of them.

Nora and Ren had decided to contact Beacon and update them about Jaune's relocation. They would be coming to the hospital separately as to not crowd the ambulance.

Pyrrha held Jaune's limp hand in her hands as the ambulance made its way through the base. His face seemed to be peaceful at first glance, but to someone who had spent the better part of a year with him his expression was just blank. Nothing indicating pain, exhaustion, or even calm.

Pyrrha had seem many injuries during her life, including many to Jaune himself. Hell, she had seen him almost die from a bomb just hours after she had met him! It was just that this time there was no threat to fight against, nothing that she could use her lifelong training on to help.

And she hated that. She hated being useless, hated not knowing what to do. It wasn't that she wanted to be the hero of the situation, the center of attention. No it was far from that; she was just not used to being helpless. She had faced struggles in her short life, from winning the Mistral Regional Tournament thrice over to convincing her parents to let her go to Beacon, her life had never been easy. Sure, her gift for combat had made it easier to get better, but she had reached heights few had.

Even when people at school had gotten severely injured fighting Grimm, she had always been able to help out in some way or other. Even when Jaune had gotten severely injured at initiation, she had lead the search for his body even if she had nothing to do with his actual recovery.

But here, it was completely different. She hadn't even noticed that Jaune had fallen into that condition, it had been Ozpin telling her to check on Jaune that had alerted her to his condition. It had been Ozpin that alerted the medics to come and take Jaune away. All she had done, frankly, was nothing. And she felt terrible for it.

The ambulance came to a stop and the back doors opened. Pyrrha sat back in her seat as the paramedics carried Jaune's stretcher out. She numbly followed a nurse out of the ambulance and into the hospital. They followed the stretcher as the doctors wheeled through the hallways.

A door opened and the doctors took the stretcher in. Pyrrha moved to enter but the nurse blocked her with an arm, shaking her head.

"Ms. Nikos, I am sorry but you cannot enter. The doctors need all the space they need to work."

"But…" Pyrrha tried to come up with something but she understood the logic. Not that she liked it. "Fine. Where should I wait?"

"Head down the direction you came then turn right. Take the second left and you should see a sign that will take you the rest of the way. Not the best layout for visitors, sorry." The nurse opened the door and went in, closing the door with a click.

Pyrrha followed the nurse's directions and soon found herself in a comfortable looking room with two couches and a TV that was playing the local news. She sat tensely on the soft seat and called Ren.

" _And that's the weather for today. Over to you Maria for the early morning news."_

The TV switched views to a young woman sitting in a studio with a screen behind her. 'Maria Lavender' read the banner under her face. The Lavender twins were quite famous in the news business, having risen through their respective kingdoms' news networks quite quickly.

" _Thank you Trevor. First a public service announcement. We have received reports of Grimm gathering beyond the borders of Vale. If you or anybody you know are planning on travelling to Vale or Mistral in the near future, please exercise caution. And now for our first news story."_

Pyrrha tuned out the TV as Ren's calm voice came through. "Pyrrha. Has Jaune been admitted?"

"Yes he has. Have you talked to Ozpin? What did he say?"

"I managed to contact him but he said that there were other important things that required his attention. He said that as soon as Jaune starts recovering he's extracting us back to Beacon."

"Makes sense. When are you guys coming here?"

"In about five minutes. I'll talk to you later. Nora!" The call shut off, leaving Pyrrha smiling at her teammates' antics. She loved her team and their little quirks.

" _We have breaking news. There have been large explosions reported by residents living near the tunnels to Mountain Glenn. Authorities have made connections to a similar explosion a few months ago in a release posted just minutes ago. They urge everyone to remain calm and say that like the last event, they do not expect events to escalate. There has been no comment from the Hunter Association or Beacon Academy. Stay tuned for more info after this break."_ The TV switched to a commercial of Pumpkin Pete's Chocolate Puffs.

Pyrrha tuned out the terrible acting of the newest winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament and leaned back on the sofa, using the breathing exercises she had been taught as part of her training to relax. She could almost physically feel her worries leave with each breath.

Breath in. Breath out. Mysterious explosions? Gone.

Breath in. Breath out. Ozpin being distracted by something worse than a mysteriously injured student? Gone.

Breath in. Breath out. Jaune's condition? That one was harder.

Breath in. Breath out. She gently floated down into the dreamless dark.

…

 **Jaune Arc**

The tunnel continued to curve gently like a staircase, but in an inverted cone-like shape. He continued upwards with his helmet providing him with the night vision to avoid bumping into the walls.

One step soon started blending into the next, each echo sounding the same as the last. Jaune tried to focus on the task at hand but the wicked combination of his depleted aura, exhaustion, and the tedium of the walk fought against him.

He even caught himself nodding off midstep as his legs continued to move on their own accord. He pinched himself twice or thrice but it was a temporary relief as he found his eyelids closing once more.

Jaune rooted around inside a pouch and pulled out a syringe of a mixture of glucose, caffeine, and other chemicals that his body could derive energy from. He had been saving it for later but that later was probably now.

He jogged forwards as the drugs kicked in. His head buzzed, his eyesight felt bolstered, and his skin felt warm. He started pumping his legs faster and faster in the now only slightly curving corridor, Raven's deadweight almost as light as a feather.

He came around a bend and slowed gradually to a halt as another wall appeared in the distance. It looked identical to the one they had found deep in the mine before. Jaune walked carefully up to it and placed a hand on the surface.

It seemed to ripple ever so slightly under his touch. Jaune was not even phased by this; a dragon could walk through the door behind and he wouldn't even be surprised. A combination of the day's events and a syringe worth of drugs coursing through your blood did that to you.

Jaune remembered what Raven had told him she was doing. He sent a little probe of aura down his arm and into the metal and watched the white spark disappear into the metal. Jaune backed off a couple feet and waited for something to happen.

He held out his hand and a little aura sprang from his hand into the metal, like metal filings jumping to a magnet. He moved his hand away but the aura streamed out even faster. What had started as a trickle now looked like a firehose. Jaune's arm burned in a non-physical way as if the definition of his arm was being eroded away.

Something started hammering on the back of his head, beating a staccato rhythm. The hammering got harder and harder as the aura flew out his arm. His HUD went in and out of focus as his eyes burned. He dropped Raven's body as the hammering escalated to a full on migraine then something resembling Exploding Head Syndrome.

He shut his eyes but it didn't stop the colors pulsing in his vision. His limbs spasmed and he saw the ground come up to his face in a blaze of colors. He rolled over onto his back as all the muscles in his body seized up painfully.

The aura stream ended and Jaune felt some control return over his body. But something was off. He moved his right arm but it seemed to struggle against his commands. He tried to walk forwards but he felt as if molasses coated him from head to toe.

He dragged Raven behind him to the door and slammed his hand onto the metal in a desperate attempt to try and stop whatever was happening to him. The ground started to pull his feet in, becoming like quicksand. The air got hard to breath and he panted trying to get some oxygen to his lungs.

He felt his brain growing distant from his body as if something was pulling him away from reality itself. His vision grew narrower and narrower and the world started feeling as if he was watching it through a TV.

He glanced around and saw nothing. Pure nothingness. It couldn't even be called black because that implied there was something material to compare that to. It was more accurately described as an experience than a color.

Jaune tried to will himself back in control of his body but some invisible barrier blocked him from moving any further. He pushed harder at his view of reality in an attempt to regain control of his misbehaving body when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Aurawielder, surely you have understood the mistakes you have made here today?"

Jaune spun around at the deep booming voice, yet he saw nothing. The grip on his shoulder increased slightly as that grating laugh came from everywhere at once.

"She was right, as usual. The once mighty Aurawielder has grown weak and senile, much like Ra back in the day. You do remember Ra, Aurawielder? It was great fun destroying his creation together, you and I."

Jaune closed his eyes and focused on the words themselves. It was obvious that the, whatever it was, had hitched a ride in his mind from whatever prison Jaune had unknowingly opened. And it seemed awfully familiar with him, even engaging in banter.

 _And what was that about Ra? Does he mean the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun?_

Another booming laugh. "You do not remember Ra? Aurawielder I must say you are just a shell of whom you once were. How humiliating it must be for you, falling from such great heights, to _this._ " The voice dripped with contempt. "I think I'll have fun destroying those close to you. And guess what? There's one right here! It must be your lucky day; you have first row seats to the show!"

"No! Stop, I want to talk more. First of all, what the hell is all this Aurawielder business? How do you know me?" Jaune tried to stall for time and information while he figured out what to do. He searched through everything in his power to change his actions. He had no control over his body so he couldn't stop the _thing_ from doing whatever he wanted.

His aura was almost gone, not enough to do anything meaningful. Though there was still one thing he could do…

"Your attempts at trying to distract me our as transparent as water. If that is the best you can do, then you deserve nothing but pain." Disappointment was dripping from its voice.

Jaune got ready for his last ditch attempt, collecting whatever scraps of aura he could get. He bound them together, stitched them into one cohesive unit. As the web got larger he could feel the Dust on his belt start to resonate.

He sped up his attempts as he watched his arm rise into the air, sword gleaming from the light of the now activated metal barrier.

"Hey, ancient thing!" Jaune called out one last time to distract it, all the while preparing his aura.

"Aurawielder, you were doing an excellent job at nothing. Why don't you keep it that way?"

"Well, all I wanted to say is that you did an excellent job at making me think I escaped you back there at the temple." Jaune conceded. "But you must be even stupider than you sound if you think you have declawed me. Let's review your mistake, shall we?"

Jaune didn't wait for the voice to respond before channeling a lance of aura into a Wind crystal in his arm and another into one in his chest. He watched his body fly backwards away from Raven's supine body and towards the metal door.

His body passed through the metal and bright white light overwhelmed his senses, rendering his view of the outside worthless.

"You still retain some of your obnoxious skill of ruining others' plans. I was planning on letting you stay alive and watch as I destroyed all you hold dear. After that stunt, I think I shall have to dispose of you. A shame, but it has to be done."

"I would say farewell, but I think a 'screw you' is more appropriate. So screw you." Jaune grit his teeth as spikes seemed to press into his very being, squeezing him and distorting the idea of him.

Jaune wiggled mentally to attempt to escape the crushing attacks of the being, but all it did was lessen the pressure at one point. Hate and misery seemed to press in from all sides. Jaune could feel it hate radiating all over him, the deep seated wish of the being calling for the end of Jaune's existence.

Jaune in response took his own will to survive and pushed back at the ontological pressure surrounding him. He held back the tide for a few moments before the being reasserted his will and pushed him down harder.

 _This guy must really hate whoever he thinks I am. Gotta escape, the pressure is getting too much, but how?_

Jaune concentrated harder on not being sent into oblivion when an idea struck him. He gave a little ground to the being to make it seem as if he was losing the battle. He let his self be compressed further and further, his shield seemingly weakening by the moment.

In reality he was simply shaping it into a pure concentrated spike to drive it into the being at the right moment. He waited, his concept of himself distorting.

The right time came a few seconds later as the being let up slightly, presumably to issue one final push to seal Jaune's nonexistence. Jaune capitalized on this and slammed the spike into the pressure around him. He heaved it out and shot it forwards again.

The world came rushing back to him as the pressure eased up. He could see his eyes staring at a crowd of Atlesian soldiers gathered around his body. He could still feel the being sharing his mind recovering from the sudden counterattack. Jaune moved his head around to make sure that Raven hadn't made it.

It was a shame that the Atlesian soldiers would recover the body, but there was nothing else he could do. He gave up control and ejected, giving the comatose and aura-less body over to the being and heading back to his original body.

…

 **Shard Tiran**

There was absolute pin-drop silence in the cavern. All the Atlesian soldiers stared at the body lying in a heap in the middle of cavern. Its right arm was scorched and blackened, the sleeve burned right off.

It had a helmet on that obscured its face along with armor over its torso. Its pale flesh shone startlingly in the light from their flashlights.

It carried a sword on his hip, and had a collection of pouches wrapped around its wrist. What looked to be Dust crystals were embedded in the armor.

There was a symbol carved on the individual's chestplate. It was charred but with a tilt of the head and a squint, Shard could just barely make out the symbol. A burning P on a map of some kind.

"A Promethean. Hold your fire and keep your distance!" The commander called out. The squad moved backwards slightly, the front row crouched and aiming their guns at the prone figure.

"Why don't we just pump him full of bullets right now? I mean, he's unconscious, can't do much when you are knocked out." One soldier spoke up.

Another soldier almost instantly quipped. "Yeah, you would know a thing or two of not being able to do certain things when knocked out, eh Mikey?"

"Shut it, the both of you. We cannot declare an unknown a hostile without explicit orders." Jacques opened his mouth to issue more orders.

"Both of you were right." The distorted and maniacal-sounding voice came from behind the helmet. "But now is not the time to look at the past. This is time to talk about the future. The future of how I kill every single one of you."

Jacques barely had time to yell "FIRE!" before he had his throat slashed wide open by an impossibly fast swing of the Promethean's sword.

The foe managed to kill the soldier next to Jacques before the squad managed to start firing. The man started to slash his sword erratically, bullets pinging off of the metal and ricocheting back into the squad.

The figure dropped to the ground and cut straight through the legs of one soldier, using the body to block the continued hail of bullets. As the body slumped to the floor dead, the Promethean leaped into the air, shield in hand.

He landed crouched on the ground at the wall of the cave, the shield blocking his entire body from harm.

Shard was kneeling by her equipment on the far side of the cavern, having not moved since the attack had begun. She started sending distress signals along with starting other mayday procedures on her equipment. This would send a backup of all her readings and data to Mission Control, who would forward the data to the relevant groups.

She was about to start sending a message describing the Promethean and his insane speed and strength when a rock spike shot up from the ground skewering her equipment. She gasped and scrambled backwards on all fours, adrenaline coursing through her.

A rumbling laugh came from behind the shield, if you could call it that. It sounded like a laugh that someone who had never spoken before would create, a warbly, cracking cacophony.

"Crying for help? I have but killed three of you. I have not fought in years; I think you guys can overpower me. Give it a try, live a little." The figure got up and twisted suddenly. A sword came flying out from behind the shield and skewered a soldier standing mere feet from Mau.

Shard couldn't think straight through the sheer panic and adrenaline flowing through her. Her hands tried to get a grip on her weapon but they kept slipping.

The figure made a motion with his hand and the sword came flying back to him. The dead soldier's body slumped to the ground with a wet thud. The Promethean crouched once more and the leaped into the air over the bullets ripping the air apart. So far only few had managed to even hit the Promethean and none had managed to penetrate the armor.

He swung his sword in a scything motion and cut the soldiers down like wheat. He moved from body to body with ease. Blood flew through the air in rivulets coating every surface with the dark red fluid.

Shard managed to get a grip on her gun as she watched the Promethean slaughter her allies, ducking, weaving, and blocking their shots with his shield. He had managed to kill 10 by now with nary a scratch on his armor.

Back on base, she had heard that they were quite formidable fighters, managing to break into the criminal underworld with ease to deal with some of the most dangerous masterminds Remnant had seen. She had obviously dismissed these rumors as being the products of a bored group of soldiers with naught to do but gossip.

However, now she took back all the scathing remarks she had made against her comrades. This enemy was a beast, able to easily overpower an entire squad in close quarters combat.

Shard raised her weapon with shaky hands as the Promethean got closer and closer to her. He was covered in blood, gore, and viscera from the soldiers he had just killed and looked like Death incarnate.

Shard aimed her weapon at the fast moving Promethean and managed to peel off three shots at the swordsman before sprinting away to the other side. The remaining portion of the squadron were still dumbstruck and were panic-firing at the enemy, feet firmly planted.

Shard started shooting once more, managing to score some hits at the armored figure's undefended back. They simply ricocheted, but it was a good morale booster. Shard started to calm down and her brain responded, her vision focusing on the figure in her sights.

And that was why she almost didn't notice the Promethean's sword skewer Mau through his side. When the sight finally registered, the sword was already out and through another's neck. But Shard didn't care. She didn't care that she was going to die a mile under the ground to this unfairly powerful fiend. She didn't care that she still had most of her life ahead of her.

All she cared was that Mau was dying. She dashed forwards and skid to his side, cradling his head in her lap. She stroked his hair as he coughed up blood, eyes desperately trying to focus on her.

"Oh Mau, ssshhh, there there." She tried her best to comfort him through his last moments. Tears flowed down her face and dripped onto Mau's ravaged chest and mingled with his blood. She gripped his hands in her own as she felt his weak pulse stagnate and stop completely. A sigh escaped his mouth and his head fell limply backwards, his blank eyes staring at the dark ceiling.

"Weak, the lot of them. Terribly sorry for interrupting your mourning, but are you done? I have some more business to attend to."

Shard just dropped her head. The fight was gone from her; she had no will to live anymore.

"You're a monster, you know that? You could easily have escaped but you had to stop and kill us all. You just had to…" Shard swallowed the lump in her throat. "You're no human, you're just an animal."

"Well, you're right about the first, I'm most definitely not one of you degenerates." The Promethean's voice dripped with hate and contempt.

Shard didn't hear the sword move through the air but she did feel the cold steel slide between her ribs. She gasped in shock and pain as the Promethean twisted the metal and withdrew it. She crumpled to the ground, vision growing blurry as blood poured out of her. Her last view of the world was the towering Promethean wiping his blade on a piece of grey cloth, and then Shard was gone from the world.

…

 **?**

The Promethean finished wiping the blood from his sword and sheathed it once more. No matter how disappointed he was in the Aurawielder's new state of being, he had to admit that his skill with weaponcraft was still as sharp as before.

The armor had been flexible enough to allow his enhanced reflexes and movement skills to maneuver exactly how he wanted to, barely taking any direct shots from those he slaughtered.

The sword had remained sharp, carving through flesh and bone alike with ease. The silly crystals that the Aurawielder had implanted in them seemed frivolous but most likely served some purpose so he refrained from ripping them out.

He stepped over the still warm corpses of those he had just killed and started walking towards where the body's memories told him the elevator to the surface lay.

 _Aurawielder, I hope you survived evacuating this body. I would hate to not be the one bringing about your death._

…

 **Lisa Lavender**

 **Vale News Network**

5:06 AM VST.

"Breaking News. We have been getting reports of Grimm attacks on the outskirts of the city of Vale, near the residential area. The Vale Police have assured us that Hunters have been deployed to the site to contain this attack. Stay tuned for details."

5:17 AM VST.

"We have received more news of Grimm attacks on the city of Vale, this time at the Docks. The Hunter Association has declared a state of emergency within one kilometer of the docks and has advised everyone within this area to evacuate immediately. The Vale Police Department are on site to assist."

5:30 AM VST.

"Beacon Academy has now lit its titular beacon, signaling a kingdom-wide state of emergency. Citizens are advised to move to their nearest safe houses and stay inside. Hunters from Beacon shall be assisting those nearby and request you not to hesitate to ask them for any help. Professor Ozpin could not be contacted at this time."

5:37 AM VST.

"This is the last broadcast of the VNN. We implore you to stay calm and stay safe while the Hunters take care of things. The Hunter Association assures us that the breach will be handled and cleaned up within the day and regular activities can resume within the week. Thank you for listening, I am Lisa Lavender and you are watching Vale News Network."

…

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	19. Recognized

**Team RWBY**

 **Hunter Base Harmony**

 **Mountain Glenn**

"Alright everyone, stand back. Professional at work here, we don't want any injuries in the audience." Yang waved the team back as she cocked her gauntlets.

Ruby cocked her head. "Uhh Yang? Technically aren't we all professionals here? This is literally our assignment right now."

"Sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Hush." Yang dropped into her stance and waved at Weiss. The heiress waved her rapier and a white glyph formed behind Yang. Yang put her right foot onto it, left foot planted firmly on the ground.

She nodded and Weiss waved her rapier once more, launching Yang forwards with immense velocity. Yang pulled her right arm back as she flew at the metal door blocking their way into the Hunter base.

She spun once, twice to add some more momentum to her arm before crashing into the sheet of metal with the force of a couple freight trains. Smoke and dust obscured her with orange flashes of light illuminating her figure.

The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the facility and were answered by the growls of the Beowolves and Ursi currently standing just out of range of the base's guns. The dissolving corpses of those not smart enough to stay back littered the ground.

Yang leaped out of the smoke and landed in a crouch. "Doctor, you have a clear shot!"

Oobleck grinned and waved his thermos, the utensil extending into a five-foot-long cannon of destruction. Weiss waved her rapier once more, another white glyph forming in front of the mouth of the cannon.

Oobleck aimed the gun at the door and depressed the trigger. Flame started licking the edges of the mouth of the cannon as it charged. The light inside the cannon got brighter and brighter, when Oobleck released the trigger.

A flaming projectile leaped from the cannon with a beam of light on its tail driving it forwards. It crashed into the dented door and ripped a hole straight through the weakened metal, carrying forwards into the interior of the base.

They heard two more crashes and looked at Oobleck accusingly as the green-haired History teacher rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't think Jaune would make it that powerful. First time I charged it after the upgrade. Thankfully nothing of importance is placed near the door!"

Ruby met Weiss's eyes and barely managed to not giggle at her expression. Weiss did not look pleased.

"I declare Mission Break Open the Door to be a success! Mission Investigate the Base has begun!" Ruby proudly announced using the 'team leader voice' that Glynda had taught her. _Stand straight and be confident. That's the way Ruby!_

She unfurled Crescent Rose and stooped through the jagged hole. Her teammates and Oobleck followed her, their auras protecting them from the jagged metal. They found themselves in what appeared to be a waiting room of some sorts, but it was hard to tell due to the absolutely wrecked interior.

"What happened here?" Blake was the first to break the silence that had fallen over the group as they took in the scene. It was almost completely dark inside the room, the scene lit with only the emergency lights and sparks flying from holes in the wall.

The hole Oobleck's weapon had created wasn't even the most interesting thing. The desk on the far left had been completely decimated, there were blast and scratch marks on the floor and walls, the ripped insides of the two futons were scattered over the piles of rubble.

"Seems like something got in without tripping the alarms, guns, and got past the huge metal barricades, all without any signs of a break-and-enter." Oobleck pushed over a large chunk of the ceiling that had fallen onto a mess of wooden shards, seemingly formerly some sort of cabinet.

"Either that or the attack was from the inside." Blake quietly voiced the alternative that no one wanted to. An attack from inside meant that a Hunter had gone rogue or Grimm now had tunnels that were not known to the Hunter Association.

Weiss moved to pull her scroll out and use the flashlight but Oobleck stayed her hand. "No need to announce our presence any more than we already have."

The five of them formed a circle and slowly moved into the next room. A crooked sign read ' _Assignment Details and Reporting'._ Hunters on duty would have to report to these bases to receive their exact mission details and pertinent information.

RWBY had not reported to the base as they had been briefed at Beacon. Had they been here, who knows what might have happened to them? Full-fledged hunters had fought and most likely died here.

They continued through a broken doorway to the next room. This room had no emergency lights and while everyone adjusted to the increased darkness, Blake went ahead to scout around. Oobleck went to a camera in the corner to try and salvage some of the footage it recorded before going offline.

Ruby almost leaped into the air as she felt Yang's arm go around her shoulders and spun around to face her sister, embarrassed and angry. "Yang!" She hissed. "Don't scare me like that!"

Yang merely laughed and squeezed Ruby. "C'mon lil sis, you need to lighten up a little. Whatever happened here, we can't do anything about it. And besides, how much do you want to bet the Hunters are probably just fighting the Grimm elsewhere? I mean…" Yang cut herself off midsentence as Blake backpedaled out of the other room, face paler than usual.

"We should leave. We should not stay here Doctor." Blake pointed back at the room. "Just look inside."

They moved past their shaken teammate and into the room she had just gone into. It didn't take long for the sight to sink in.

An armored man was pinned to the wall by some sort of organic spike. His hands were pinned under his body as he slumped over the three-foot-long spike that was embedded in his abdomen. His sword lay on the ground under him. It was cut in half roughly, the top half lying about five feet from the bottom.

A woman with light clothing lay in a crumpled heap with an empty Dust staff next to her. There was a trail of blood leading to her body from a large, dark red splash. The far wall had a gaping hole in it leading to the next room.

The four girls stared at the scene, unmoving. Then Yang slammed her hands on Ruby's eyes and pulled her back to the room with Oobleck.

Ruby struggled against the blonde's strong arms to no avail, settling for simply angrily whispering to her. "Yang let go of me!"

"No! Ruby, you're too young!" Yang hissed back, now wrestling to restrain her agile, smaller sister.

Ruby managed to get a hand free from Yang's bear hug and was now trying to pry her sister's hands away. "We're huntresses Yang, we're not, _hmmpph,_ don't try to gag me!"

"Break it up! You two are acting like two, juvenile, "Weiss fished for the proper word, but settled for stomping her foot down angrily. "Just let her go Yang, she's our team leader, she can make her own decisions."

Yang stopped struggling and turned to Blake pleadingly, trying to get at least her partner on her side.

"Sorry Yang, but Weiss is right. We can't baby Ruby like that. If she's old enough to train as a huntress, she's old enough to see those kind of things."

The fight went out of Yang and she let go of Ruby. Ruby sprang up and glared at her sister, but then immediately rushed over and hugged her.

"Yang, I know that you want to protect me but I think it's time that I make some more decisions by myself? I mean, Ozpin let me in right? That means he thinks I'm mature enough!" Ruby grinned, trying to cheer the morose brawler up.

Yang just ruffled Ruby's hair and hugger her back. "Ruby, I try to, but it's hard. I keep thinking you're still small, still stealing cookies from the jar above the fridge whenever Dad wasn't looking. Still trying to use Uncle Qrow's scythe without permission. I…I just want you to be safe, alright?"

Ruby helped Yang to her feet. "Yang, as long as our team remains whole, we can't be beat! Isn't that right, Team RWBY?"

Weiss and Blake both cheered quietly with Ruby, and Yang joined in a second later, the fear and terror of the gruesome sight gone from their minds.

Oobleck watched the impromptus team-building exercise with a bittersweet smile on his face. He still remembered his team back at Beacon, how they thought they were invincible together, their fighting skills all that were necessary to survive in the world.

Time and bad luck caused the team to fall apart. The death of their leader and the resulting emotional fallout caused their relationships to sour and the team disbanded, with each of the remaining three going to far corners of the world.

But now was not the time to disillusion the four girls in front of him. Now was the time they needed to be as strong as they could, for Oobleck had a nagging feeling this attack on the base was larger than they thought.

…

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

 **Atlas Army Hospital**

Pyrrha turned the TV back on. It had become her little ritual while waiting for an update on Jaune. Nora was lying next to her on the couch, sleeping merrily. Ren was sitting on the ground meditating and working on his aura control. Small objects sometimes floated up around him and his mouth twitched upward slightly whenever they did.

Pyrrha however had no such methods to distract herself. She had fallen asleep before Ren and Nora had come to the hospital, but she hadn't been able to fall asleep again. She kept switching channels and turning the TV off after a couple.

" _Now you too can have this miraculous new cleaning tool, the GrimmWow for the low, low, price of…"_ Switch.

" _How could you do this to me, Harold? We were supposed to look out for…"_ Switch.

Pyrrha sighed. Looked like there was nothing good on this stretch of channels again.

"… _eyewitness reports have stated these beasts, I quote, '_ rose out of the water like those huge monsters Mum always used to tell us about. About gave me a heart-attack. Thankfully me chum here had my back. We managed to escape, but the others round us weren't so lucky. There was a lot of damage done back there.' "

Pyrrha almost continued flipping, thinking it was just another terrible ScieFy channel movie. The last one had a large cyclone made of Beowolves tearing through Mistral. Completely ridiculous.

"Hey Ren? I think you should see this." Pyrrha called out to her teammate who silently stood up and came to the couch to see the TV.

" _Our partner, Vale News Network, is on site to report. Over to you Lisa."_

" _Thank you Maria. I am standing here in an airship above the city of Vale, which is currently undergoing what can only be described as an invasion by the creatures of Grimm. An all-out assault on every corner of Vale has occurred simultaneously, breaching the thinly stretched defenses of the city._

 _Hunter crews have been deployed to critical junctions and are now holding back the attack, yet the Grimm have managed to push past the automated defense systems that had been set up in certain areas. Hunters have been summoned from Atlas, Mistral, and Vale in an effort to quell the biggest Grimm attack in recent history."_

"Has Ozpin contacted you about this?" Ren asked.

"No, but we're heading back to Vale after this so it wouldn't be out of the question if we were to be deployed. Whenever Jaune is ready for action we can leave." Pyrrha looked down at her hands.

Ren turned his head and watched her for a second before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Pyrrha, Jaune is strong. He'll pull through. He's suffered aura exhaustion a couple of times and he lived outside kingdom borders for most of his life. It's a matter of when, not if he wakes up. And I think it will be sooner than later."

Pyrrha nodded at Ren's words. Her teammate may not talk much but when he did, his words were comforting.

She smiled and opened her mouth to thank him when she froze, staring. Ren followed her gaze to the doorway, though his reaction was less dramatic than Pyrrha's.

Pyrrha blinked twice before standing up and walking over to a grinning Jaune, who was leaning on the doorframe. She looked him up and down, not trusting her eyes. He had been absolutely comatose and aura-less a few hours ago, yet here he was, the image of health.

"Did you miss me?" His grin morphed into a shit-eating grin as he saw her expression. "Sorry, sorry, I should explain. Well, I really don't have much to explain, all I remember is falling asleep and then waking up to a nurse poking me with a needle. It hurt too."

He rubbed his arm with an exaggerated expression of pain on his face. Pyrrha continued to stare at him, waiting for a better explanation. Jaune waited for a few seconds with a slightly hopeful look in his eyes and then sighed, casting his eyes down at the floor.

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry, I really am, but I have no idea what happened. I don't even know why I'm in the hospital besides 'an aura-related injury'. I was hoping one of you could elaborate."

"YOU…" Pyrrha gathered herself. "You have no idea what happened to you? We were worried sick about you! For all we knew you were dead!"

Jaune's eyes grew wide. "Almost died? What? How? What did the doctors say?"

Pyrrha sighed and put her head in her hands. "Ozpin wanted to get a surprise report on our progress here. I woke you up but you were completely comatose and unresponsive. We called the paramedics immediately. They refused to say anything about your condition but from what I could tell they had no idea what was going on."

She looked up as his hands rested on her shoulders. "Pyrrha, let me be clear. I will never let this team down, you hear me? Doesn't matter what happens I will never let this team come to harm."

She stared up at his blue eyes, and the honesty and resolution within them comforted her. "Thank you Jaune, that…that really helped."

Jaune just smiled. "Alright, so none of us have any idea what happened to me, but I'm fine now. And by the look of things on that TV over there, we need to focus someplace other than my health."

Pyrrha nodded and straightened up. "From what the news says, the outer perimeters of Vale have been breached and occupied quite strongly by the Grimm. Hunters have managed to keep them from pushing in any further than the initial land grab, but reinforcements are slow to come."

"What about Ozpin? Did he say anything about us or any other Beacon teams being sent to help out?"

Ren was the one to speak up. "He hasn't said anything about the situation, but to call him when you wake up. I'm assuming that he will give us our next set of instructions soon. Jaune, are you sure you feel fine? We may not have time to rest anytime soon."

"Our fearless leader will be just peachy I bet!" Nora bounded up, acting as if she hadn't just been fast asleep. She gave Jaune a huge bear hug and laughed. "See? He didn't fall over!"

The four of them laughed and moved to the couch. Ren pulled his scroll out, called Ozpin's number, and set it on the table. The call was soon accepted.

"Hello, Headmaster Ozpin?"

"Team JNPR, the headmaster is currently quite busy and as such has instructed me to assist Hunter teams. Based on the fact you are sitting there I take it you are awake. How are you feeling?" Goodwitch's audio and video feed came up on the screen. The assistant headmistress seemed to be even more stressed out than before. Her hair was messier than any of them had ever seen and there was tiredness buried in her eyes.

"Oh hello Ms. Goodwitch! I'm doing fine thank you."

"Glad to hear that Jaune. Now I know why you called but the headmaster told me you four were to remain at the base until further notice. This attack outclasses anything the four of you were trained for and the headmaster does not desire to put any of the students into unnecessary danger.

The simple words froze the four of them. Staying out of the fight? Especially while Vale was slowly losing the fight? No chance.

They tried to hide their emotions but Goodwitch had decades of experience reading students. "Children, rest assured that we will not leave you out of the fight. We certainly do not think that you four are not talented. We shall call you in once the situation is better in our control."

No one spoke for a few moments.

Jaune leaned forwards at stared at the screen. "So what shall we be doing while we're sitting here far away from anywhere we can help?" His tone was neutral.

Goodwitch stared right back. "You shall be staying at a place where you will be safe, which can not be said for many of the people in Vale right now. You are in training right now, let the professionals handle the fighting. Letting your pride dictate your actions is the worst mistake a Hunter can make. Stay in Atlas until it is safe." The room was quiet. "Any more questions?"

None came forth. Nora looked at the floor, her exuberance damped down majorly. Ren seemed serene but his muscles were tense and his fists slightly balled. Pyrrha and Jaune just stared at Goodwitch before looking at each other, confirming what the other was thinking. _There was no way we're staying here._

"As you wish Ms. Goodwitch. To recap, our assignment is to continue as it has been and train, is that right?"

"That is correct Jaune. I expect regular reports to continue. This attack is simply one of many that have happened over the years and we have held them off just fine every other time. Keep your focus on training and everything will be back to normal before you know it. Until later, Team JNPR." The call ended.

"So…what now? We're going to Vale right?" Nora's excitement made an effort at coming back. "We're going to bash some Grimm brains in! I'll break their legs too!"

Jaune just smiled. "Nora, we can't just disobey a direct order like that, we would get kicked out of Beacon. But what we can do is find some trouble here and then get pulled out back to Vale. And based on the things the nurses were muttering about, there is about to be trouble here soon."

Heads whirled to his direction. "Trouble? What kind?" Ren spoke up, showing some uncharacteristic excitement.

Jaune clasped his hands and leaned in. "Have you guys heard of the Prometheans?"

…

 **Team RWBY**

"So on a scale of 1 to 10, how much are we regretting coming here? I'm at a solid 11."

The five of them were standing in a large, dark, musty room. The stench was something awful, like months old garbage sizzling in the sun with a marinade of leaky sewer pipes. It made their eyes water just being there and their noses felt like they were going to drop off any second.

"What happened here?" Ruby's voice got even higher as she attempted to speak without breathing.

Weiss was just thankful there wasn't enough light for the others to see the colors she was sure her face was turning. It was nothing like she had ever smelled, but then again she hadn't exactly experienced many of the rougher sides of life.

"It seems to be getting stronger over here." Oobleck seemed to mind the smell the least but his expression was still pained. The four made their way to the large door on the other side of the room that was blocked off by chunks of the ceiling that had fallen in front of it.

The took turns heaving the debris away, creating several smaller piles to the side. The door was slightly bent and was stuck in its frame.

"Can't we just blast it open?" As always, Yang was the one to suggest the explosive option.

"No, we don't know what's on the other side. Can't risk blowing it wide. Weiss, do you have spare Flame Dust?" Oobleck's enthusiasm had returned.

"I do. Shall I use some Wind as well to give us some relief from this wretched smell? It's nauseating." Weiss tried to be proper, but it was hard to do when your voice sounded like a cartoon character's.

"As you see fit."

Weiss readied her rapier, holding it across her body. She aimed the tip at the right hand hinge of the door and spun the Dust cylinders. Flame Dust slotted into place in the blade while a Wind slotted into place in the handle.

She opened the gates that held her aura and felt it flow into the crystals and activate the energy within. She kept some of the aura from being used in the crystal and used it shape the tongue of flame leaping from her rapier into a needle. The Wind crystal spewed air out of channels in the hilt and caused some blessed fresh wind to flow in the room. The smell diluted slightly but appreciably.

The flame cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter. The door sagged as one hinge was cleaved in two, which made cutting the next hinge even easier. Yang and Oobleck grabbed the door and pulled it out of the doorway and tossed it onto a nearby pile.

Weiss shut off the stream of aura to the Flame Crystal but kept the stream of air going as a new wave of nausea inducing smell washed over them. The stench was thick and almost tangible, leaving behind an oily, greasy, dirty feeling.

The yawning maw of the doorway was almost pitch black, an oily rolling blackness rather than the featureless darkness that shadows and made of.

Oobleck activated and tossed a flare in. Nothing. The darkness swallowed the crackling red light whole and sent nothing out. The girls looked at Oobleck in slight alarm. Was this some sort of new Grimm nest?

"Stay back girls. I've never seen one of these." Oobleck's voice was unusually soft. "Only heard rumors."

"Rumors? What kind of rumors Doctor?" Ruby could tell that whatever this was had Oobleck on edge and worried. And anything that worried Oobleck just on sight was something that RWBY had to worry about too.

"Not good. Most definitely not good. We need to leave now and get a distress call out immediately. Ruby and Weiss, go to th…" Oobleck stopped talking at the sight of a man shambling out of the doorway.

He was young-ish looking, about Oobleck's age and around the same height. His hair was combed neatly with a partition. He was clean shaved, which showed off his strong chin. His mouth was curled upwards as a hint of a smile which didn't quite reach his eyes.

His thin-frame glasses rested lightly on his long, straight nose. He stood straight in his grey three-piece suit with a tie that matched perfectly. Everything about him was immaculate from the shine on his shoes to his posture to the fitting on his suit.

He hummed an unfamiliar tune as he sauntered out of the doorway, casual as could be. He stopped ten feet in front of the five of them and tilted his head, an expression of faux surprise on his face.

"Barty? Is that you? My word you don't look a day older. Have you been adding Dust to your coffee again? I told you it's bad for you!" His voice was soft and had an oddly soothing texture to it.

The girls looked back and forth between Oobleck and the stranger. Oobleck's mouth was clamped shut and his hands were balled fists. They had never seen him this angry before, not even when CRDL were caught spying on the girl's locker room. That had been quite a week at Beacon.

"I saw you die. I saw you get ripped apart by the Grimm. I saw the man I knew die and you are not that man." Oobleck's voice was dangerously quiet, a low rumble.

"That is true, the man you knew unfortunately had a very severe, fatal case of death. But I am resourceful, I make do with what I can get my hands on. I couldn't pass up a very nice specimen such as this." The man swept his hands over himself. "Now this body is mine and that man you once knew exists no more. Isn't that something?"

The girls gaped at the man's words with mute horror. Weiss put a hand to her face to stifle her gasp. What was going on? What was the man talking about? Was it true? How could it be true?

Oobleck brought his weapon to his side, holding it by the handle pointing the end at the ground. His gaze was steady and locked onto the man's eyes. "I don't believe you."

The man smiled. "It doesn't matter what you believe me or not, my friend. All that matters is what I have been tasked to do."

"What? Kill us? Yeah, good luck with that. You never were near the strongest."

"Kill you? No no no, we're friends remember?" The man smiled honestly and disarmingly. "All I want to do is take your free will and use you for our own ends. Hopefully you guys are free." The man twisted his hand and flicked it forwards towards Blake.

Oobleck swung his weapon in front of Blake and an explosion rippled across the metal. She leaped backwards and her clone flickered under the heat of the explosion. RWBY sprang into action as Oobleck smacked another invisible explosive orb thrown at them.

Ruby was about to call their first attack when Oobleck yelled. "No! You four run! Get out and get to safety." He smacked another orb. The man simply stood there, looking bored, hands curling around the invisible orbs he threw. "I know his attacks; I can hold him off. Tell Ozpin 'The Deep Rises.' GO!"

With the final yell, Oobleck threw himself at the man, swinging his weapon in a wide flaming arc. The man caught it with one hand and punched Oobleck with his other hand. Oobleck simply twisted and threw the man to the side of the room opposite to RWBY.

"Ruby! We need to go now." Blake was at the door gesturing them over. Ruby took one last look at Oobleck who just barely missed the man with a powerful strike. Blake was right, there was nothing left to do but to do what Oobleck had told them to do.

They turned and ran as the room filled with the sounds of fire and fury.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	20. Arrival

**Bartholomew Oobleck**

An explosion rang out for the umpteenth time, the shockwave pushing him back slightly. The fight had been going on for a minute now and Oobleck was getting flashbacks of his time in Beacon.

The team used to practice dueling whenever possible and Oobleck knew his former friend's attacks through and through. The only problem was, the same held for his now opponent.

He had been an aura user, an exceptional one at that. He had been practicing ever since he was a child. His father ran a quite successful training center in Mistral teaching people of all ages aura manipulation. He had had his aura unlocked at the young age of 5, a controversial act that had made the news as the youngest aura unlock in recent history.

When Oobleck had first met him, he hadn't quite known what to think of him. He was absolutely calm and collected, well spoken, and reserved. However, once you got to know him, he opened up and was quite the conversationalist. Just never around anyone unfamiliar.

He had a very non-physical fighting style that was entirely based upon utilizing his aura in various techniques that he had developed experimenting with aura and Dust. There had been others who had been so in tune with these materials, but the only one who had anywhere near this level was Jaune Arc.

One of the attacks that he had developed were the bombs that he was pushing Oobleck with. From what Oobleck had managed to get out of him, they consisted of shaping his aura into a super dense hemisphere and collecting and compressing air into it, fitting another hemisphere on top. The aura then compressed the air, causing it to heat up immensely. The aura grenade was then thrown at an enemy and the aura retrieved at the last second, causing the superheated gas to expand and ignite.

Oobleck had been confused when the process was revealed to him as it required aura to interact with a gas, which had never been before in large quantities. The solution was quite simple and required a level of control only he had. He controlled the larger particles in the air itself and used them to create a mesh cage. The holes in the cage would create eddy currents of air that would stop air from moving out. The aura usage was minimized as the only energy spent was in compressing the air. It was a brilliantly executed attack and one of the many that he had kept hidden in his sleeve.

Oobleck spun the weapon, blocking each of the shimmery spheres as fast as his ex-friend threw them. His weapon was marked with black scorch marks its whole length but Oobleck wasn't worried. The build quality was top notch, it would hold. The problem was getting close enough or getting an opening to attack.

That opportunity came soon, when Oobleck ducked under a sphere and lunged forwards under his opponent's guard. He feinted with his weapon to the right and shot his fist straight forwards into his opponent's gut.

The punch was aura-laced and drove him backwards, allowing Oobleck to deliver a cross strike into his head. It sent him flying into the wall and fall to the ground, slightly dazed.

Oobleck leaped to push his advantage but got hurled backwards as an invisible shockwave pulsed out from the kneeling foe. It hit Oobleck with enough force to cause him to leap backwards and do a backflip to dissipate the energy.

"Seems like you've still got it Bart. Makes it an even fight."

Oobleck adjusted his grip on his weapon. "You may be possessing his body, but he was never better than me. Now, be respectful and let go of…his body."

Oobleck struggled to remember his friend's name, which surprised him greatly. There was nary a thing Oobleck forgot; part of why he found history to be so easy was his excellent memory. But to not remember his deceased teammate's name? Something was up.

"So you finally got around to noticing you can't remember his name? I remember you as smarter than that Oobleck." Everything about the man was completely the same as his memories of him, except maybe the tone. That was much more condescending than he remembered.

"Let me help you out. Names have power and meaning. Names help associate an object with the world around it, to help communicate its properties. A simple word can express a countless amount of information."

Oobleck kept his guard up as the man opposite him talked. He seemed to be comfortable, at ease. It was just like when he used to lecture the team about certain topics, only now this was slightly, no wait, _very_ surreal. His dead friend's body was possessed by some sort of being that attacked a Hunter base in Mountain Glenn of all places, and was now lecturing him about names.

"When that object goes away and people forget about it, there is no way to recover that information. The object's true, specific name is gone." The man gestured with his hands. "Of course, you can always use other names to describe the idea, but none will ever encompass the entirety of that idea. Can you see where I'm going where with this?"

Oobleck felt numb as realization dawned on him. "You…" Oobleck licked his lips. His throat felt parched. "You erased him from existence."

The man motioned him to continue. Oobleck felt sick as he saw the encouraging expression his friend always wore when teaching someone something. "Now everything he was, him and all of it is gone. You purged that information from the world."

"Yes, exactly! Doing so didn't violate natural norms, as all information is and will be lost eventually. So yes. Everything about him is gone, and only our memories and his impacts on the world remain." The despicable being's voice was triumphant.

Oobleck somehow felt even angrier, but suppressed it with a great effort of will. There was still information to be gathered, and it seemed that the _thing_ standing in front of him was willing to diverge it. He had to keep it talking as long as possible so he could think of a plan. He needed to defeat it or at least stop it from getting out.

"So how did you manage to make such an excellent replica of his body?"

"Trade secrets. Can't tell you everything can I?" The being smiled and cocked his head.

"So what are you? Some sort of god? Demigod? Demon? You're obviously not anything terrestrial." Oobleck's mind ran wild with different possibilities, plans, attacks, and counters.

"I have been called many names of the years, though one I truly liked was Nergal. A civilization way out there in the universe gave me that name and I thought it fit. Perhaps if you knew them you would appreciate the poignancy of the word. They appreciated it, a little too closely in fact, and are now no more. A sad day it was."

While Nergal seemingly rambled, Oobleck decided upon a plan. The body that Nergal was occupying was still mortal, and had no aura around it. Oobleck was sure there were some arcane abilities that were protecting the body, but it was still possible to kill it. It most likely wouldn't stop Nergal, but he couldn't afford to give him any chances to do to him what he had done to his teammate.

"So now you're here, on Remnant. You want to destroy this world too? Cast it into oblivion?"

He laughed. "Oh no, that was started _ages_ ago. I'm just here to finish the job."

…

 **Jaune Arc**

"The Prometheans? Who're they? Some kind of cult?" Nora bounced up and down on the sofa while the other two leaned back to listen to Jaune.

"They're some sort of criminal gang, the news had some stories on their activities back in Vale."

"Yeah, that they are Ren, that they are." Jaune was going over what he was going to say and how. He couldn't reveal information a Beacon student couldn't possibly know, but he had to give enough knowledge about their weaknesses so that they could take down the asshole who had taken over the clone's body. He hated that guy so damn much for that.

"So ever since I came to Vale, I tried to learn more about this place. Culture, history, that sort of stuff. You guys helped a lot with that, by the way." The other three nodded along. "And one day while I was searching for stuff going on in Vale, I came across this news article. Real small, but it was something different. Some guy busted up the area outside Junior's nightclub."

"The place where all the thugs and such go to?" Pyrrha questioned. "I heard about that fight, the whole street was damaged, the building next door had its front damaged beyond repair."

"Right, so you can see why I read further into this. So I tried to look into the incident since only a fight between two Hunter trained individuals could cause that much damage. I got curious as generally people try not to have large fights like this out in the open, especially not next to a club where the police are just waiting for an excuse to raid.

"Time goes by; I start seeing more of such incidents in the news. Attacks and raids by a single entity, always on criminal hideouts and warehouses. Soon after, he started leaving marks. A red P on a burning Remnant. Later on, it seemed that he got sloppy, or stopped caring about not being seen, and eyewitnesses started giving reports on his appearance. Apparently it wasn't just him, it was a group of similarly dressed guys who were gaining a significant foothold in the Vale underworld."

Thus far, it was mostly true, the figure had done all that. He just didn't let them know he was the one who did it. The less he lied, the better it would be for him in the event his lie fell apart.

"After the initial interest and secrecy in him decreased, the media's attention went off them and it became much harder to find out anything about him. Now, up till now I think this was something you all might have known, but this is where it gets relevant."

 _Time to lie through your teeth Jauney boy._

"I decided to find out more about them, to do some in-depth, hands on research. Pyrrha, don't get mad, because this happened months ago. I, uh, I went into Vale and searched for info. Went to Junior's, a couple other places, paid some guys in the right places and soon got a feel for what and who these guys were.

So from what I gathered, these guys are independent mercenaries of sorts. They buy Dust and sell equipment and manpower. Only one individual has been seen at a time. Apparently these Prometheans ever gone lethal, but they scared even Torchwick."

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "You went to Torchwick's men to get information? What if they ratted you out to him? You could've been kidnapped like that time after your expo!"

Jaune smiled comfortingly. "Relax Pyrrha. For one, I'm not dumb enough to go to near him for information. And two, who said these men were thinking straight when I interviewed them? Junior's serves some strong drinks." Jaune saw Pyrrha opening her mouth. "And no Pyrrha. I didn't have any, though your concern is quite touching."

She just smiled a little and leaned back. "What else did you learn?"

"These guys are formidable fighters. They are quite skilled with their weapons and use Dust heavily. Their attacks are unpredictable and they are hard to gang up on. Remember the incident back at the docks in Semester 1?" They nodded, thinking back to the story that RWBY had told them. "That was another thing that roused my curiosity. The Promethean stopped Torchwick from killed Blake and Sun by just showing up and talking to him. So that means he's respected by even a scoundrel like Torchwick.

The reason for him saving Blake and Sun is not evident yet, though I think that he may have done it either to make a point or to simply provoke Torchwick. But the bottom line is that they are a dangerous group, and we should be careful against them even as a team."

"Jaune, are you saying we might be attacked by them?" Ren got straight to the point.

And now it was time to connect it all back. "Yes. A while after the expo, I was contacted by them on my scroll. They wanted my technology and weapons. They were quite persuasive. I managed to stall them by drip feeding them some plans every couple of weeks and they seemed content enough. Don't look at me like that, it wasn't anything great, and I didn't want to bother anyone over this.

But I haven't sent them anything ever since we got to Atlas and I think they've gotten impatient. I heard some nurses talking about how a couple squads had been sent to a SDC camp up North. Someone had managed to infiltrate the compound with almost no noise and had killed the Hunter that was protecting the mine. The White Fang and the Prometheans are the only groups who have any chance at doing such a thing and as such, I'm just making sure that we as a team are ready for a fight if the Prometheans come across us."

"They're searching for you? What kind of technology did you provide? Was it really cool?" Nora was still somehow bouncing on the sofa with the same vigor as she had been 10 minutes ago. Jaune was happy she was on his team; he had seen how she utilized that energy against her enemies.

"Until otherwise confirmed, I think that yes. They might be searching for me. I apparently really interested them at my expo for them to be doing all this."

The room was quiet for a bit. Everyone digested the knowledge for a bit before Nora, unpredictably, broke the silence.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm just going break his legs!"

…

 **Prometheus C – Body**

The armored man walked into the elevator with a scroll from what he presumed was the dead commander of the squad. He had been a fool. If both parties have weapons the obvious thing to do would've been to incapacitate him. Especially as they seemed to be intimidated by the armor and logo.

He had to hand it to, what was the silly name he called himself now? Jaune? He scoffed as the elevator authenticated the scroll and started rising.

He had seemed to be truly lost and without a clue as to what was going on. He had walked right into the trap and opened the prison. He had even given him a body and an easy way to go into the open world!

 _If it was any easier, I would think this was a trap._

The elevator reached the top and the doors opened into the cold. Not that he could feel anything but that's what the sensors on the screen in the helmet told him. For how much he loathed Jaune, he had to admit one thing: he made some damn good equipment.

The suit flowed with him, feeling as if it was simply a second skin rather than a thick layer of armor encasing him. The sword stayed sharp as it ripped and tore through the soldier's armor. The shield had scratches in it and a couple dents but that was to be expected when a dozen soldiers fire their guns full auto at you.

He knew nothing of the current state of the world beyond what Jaune had thought about and experienced in this body. He knew about weapons and using them, but the whole Aura business was Jaune's forte. He had never understood and never wanted to. He was powerful enough not to resort to cheap tricks like that.

He leisurely strolled out of the enclosure that held the elevator cabin and walked out into the clearing. The two soldiers standing guard had barely any time to react before they lay dead on the ground, snow turning red around them.

There were a few soldiers facing outwards on the perimeter of the clearing chatting amongst themselves. He shook his head as he strolled up to them. They were extremely incompetent to not have noticed the message that that soldier girl had managed to send out before he killed her.

He ended their pathetic lives and continued onwards to where their air transport was located. Luckily Jaune had thought about an escape plan involving stealing the military transport, so the basic knowledge of flying was still in the clone's brain.

He sat down and plugged the commander's scroll into the correct jack. The machine revved to life and the control panel came to life. He set a waypoint for the base that the memories left in the brain said was where Jaune and his team were located.

The aircraft lifted gently off the ground and quickly gained speed as it increased its altitude, eventually flying at near top speed towards the Atlesian base. The autopilot took over, leaving C with time to reflect on the state of matters.

The last time he had seen humans, they had been primitive, barely able to function and survive. Now here they were, building craft capable of tearing through the air, firearms actually worth a damn, and materials that wouldn't fall apart at the slightest touch. It wasn't anything new to C, but to see humans finally achieve this level of technology disturbed him greatly.

He sat calmly as he covered the miles between himself and his destination. Minutes passed and the scenery flew by beneath him. The sun rose steadily in the sky, throwing sharp shadows across the land and giving the alpine locales an otherworldly feel.

The radio crackled to life and broke the serene trance C had gone into.

"Alpha-RT13, we received a distress signal from you 15 minutes ago. What is your current status?"

C simply pulled his fist back and punched the panel, ripping it out of the dashboard. He threw it to the back of the cockpit and waited. He watched the outermost perimeter wall approach and go past underneath him.

The inner perimeter was within his sight when the alarms on the control panel started going off. He turned on the exterior cameras and flicked through each feed until he saw what was causing the ruckus.

A missile tore through the air towards his plane, the metal gleaming in the early morning sun. C thought for a second before simply turning the craft off and letting it coast. He reached under the panel and opened the electrical box, tearing out wires with reckless abandon.

After a dozen wires, the backup electric locking mechanism in the door disengaged, leaving the mechanical failsafe in place. C grasped the handle and counted down as the missile got closer and closer.

The plane was now in freefall, the missile's trail barely visible above him. He strained his ears to try and discern the missile's location past the screaming of the wind and could barely make out the roar of the solid fuel rocket that propelled the missile.

He waited until the sound was almost the same volume as the wind before bracing, opening the door, and leaping straight out. The air hit him like a wall, stunning him as his momentum carried him away from the useless hunk of metal.

He spun himself in the air to watch the missile detonate just feet from the body of the plane and consume it in a ball of fire. The visor darkened heavily to block out the glare, giving C a spectacular view of the explosion.

Burning parts of the plane spiraled downwards slower than before, the flames throwing up large clouds of smoke. C maneuvered himself into their midst to confuse any thermal imaging systems that the brain remembered as being standard in all scanners in the military's hardware.

C grabbed onto a large sheet of metal and held on. His helmet gave him his altitude and current speed as well as a _super_ useful indicator that stated falling at 30+ meters per second was not a good idea. How did Jaune survive without any such indicators on a daily basis?

A new box came up after 10 seconds of fall and C opened it using the clone's instinct.

 _Terminal velocity detected. Do you wish to activate the parachute? YES/NO._

C watched the altitude indicator go down as he waited for a safe enough height to open the parachute at. The ground got closer and closer and the trees got clearer and easier to see. A river meandered downhill not far away and there a road right below him. The rising sun made everything easier to see.

Upon reaching the desired altitude, C pressed the confirmatory button on the sides of the hands on the suit. He waited a second and a parachute burst out the back plate of his armor, with cords coming out of the front as well.

He descended the rest of the way relatively uneventfully. He kept an eye on a truck making its way along the road. The driver had no doubt already seen the explosion, not to mention the armored man parachuting to the ground.

C adjusted his course to match the truck's. The truck must have realized what he was attempting to do as he sped up to try and outpace C's fall. C simply moved himself over the road and descended steadily, waiting for the truck to approach. The truck was moving too fast to stop and if it slowed down, C could easily land and hijack it.

Once he was above and ahead of the truck, he cut the cords and fell straight downwards, managing to grab onto a hook on the back of the truck. His shoulder strained as he fought to pull himself onto the roof, the wind and the erratic driving doing nothing to help.

C managed to get onto the roof and lay on his front, staying out of the wind. He pulled himself along the top, the wind rushing by around him. It would've been deafening if the helmet didn't have active noise cancellation built into it. It was amazing how much stuff still existed in the clone's head. It had been used for months apparently, and didn't seem any worse for wear.

He stopped near the edge and moved to the right, waiting for the truck to turn right. During this time, the windflow on the right side would be the lowest and it would be easier to move around. The turn came within a minute and C quickly reached and punched the passenger window in.

The driver started swerving even more, trying to throw C off, but his grip was secure. The next time the driver swept the truck to the right on the desolate road, C rolled off the roof and pulled himself into the cab headfirst.

He braced himself with his feet on the door and slammed the driver's head on his door once, twice, thrice, then pulled the limp body under him. He settled into the driver seat and pushed the driver's body under the seat. He was minutes from the interior walls and had to prepare a plan of getting in.

…

 **Team JNPR**

The mood had lightened with Nora's exuberant declaration. The four sat in silence for a bit, thinking over everything.

"Do you think he'll be able to make it past the defenses? This is quite a lar…" Pyrrha trailed off when she saw Jaune's expression. "Sorry, stupid question. You know them better than me."

"Yep. This is not a question of _if_ , it's a question of _when._ And honestly, based on the time at which the camp up north was infiltrated, they might even be here today."

As if on cue, an alarm started ringing on each of their scrolls. They whipped them out and read the message that accompanied the alarm.

' _ATTN All Personnel: We are on active alert. An active fighter has engaged and neutralized friendly forces and is assumed to have hijacked a A54 Kestrel that was shot down between the inner and outer fortifications. We have suspicion that the fighter has survived and is attempting to gain access to the base proper. Active units to battle stations, other units on standby._ '

There was another message, this one from Major Ashe. They hadn't heard much from after they had settled into their routines and whenever they had it had been about special training and practice missions.

' _Team JNPR, you are not exempt from this. You are expected to report for duty to your proper locations as you are all still under Atlesian care. We are sending you backup as to ensure your safety. We do not expect this threat to remain a threat for long, but it is a good exercise for you. Report in 10 minutes.'_

"So much for 'staying safe', huh." Jaune was the first to finish reading. He put his scroll away and stood up. The others finished within seconds, shrugged, and followed him out the door. They were to report to the airfield and the aircraft hangars, which was on the other side of the base.

They immediately started sprinting upon leaving the hospital, past a couple marching groups of soldiers and a few trucks carrying supplies and weapons. They went through two checkpoints and were rushed to their positions, an encampment overlooking the airfield. The hangars were on the other side of the width of the runways, with the airpads on the right side facing the hangars.

They climbed the ladder into their encampment, a small room with waist high walls and a metal roof. There were stands to rest long range weapons on to boost their stability, shields that popped up at the press of a button, and an ammunition locker that had a large supply of all sorts of bullets and Dust.

As they settled in, Pyrrha asked the question they'd all been thinking. "So who do you think is the backup that Major Ashe said we would be getting?"

"No clue, though I appreciate getting backup. Maybe a special forces type of guy?" Jaune slotted his sword into a stand, the railgun charged and ready.

"Could be. Or maaaaybe it's a whole squad! And we could have this huge amazing fight with the bad guy, which will convince Ozpin to send us to Vale!" Nora spun her hammer around in the close quarters, miraculously not hitting anything.

"Nora, they're not going to send a whole squad just for us." Ren finished inspecting his submachine guns and tucked them into his sleeves.

"And you would be right! Salutations!" The door opened to reveal a petite, orange haired, green eyed, widely smiling girl. She was wearing a black and green skirt with circuit patterns on them and a small bow in her hair.

The four of them turned to look at the newcomer, three of them with confusion and the fourth with joy and surprise.

"Penny! It's good to see you." Jaune walked forward and hugged her. He had grown quite attached to her during their training and mentoring sessions. She had started to look at him as the brother she never had.

"It is good to see you too Jaune!" She beamed at him. She had been elated when she had heard that her first assignment would be helping Jaune protect the airbase.

"And I'm Nora! Are you the backup? How do you know out fearless leader?" Nora popped up in between them, hammer hanging from its normal place on her back. "Ohh Jaune, don't tell me you…"

"No! No, Nora, no. Nothing like that. Penny here is a really good friend of mine." Jaune hastily stopped Nora. "She's Dr. Polendina's daughter, and is currently training to be a Huntress." It was true, Penny had begun combat training a bit ago, which put an end to their one-on-one training sessions.

"Well hello then Penny. We're all glad to have you on our team!" Pyrrha smiled warmly.

"Are we going to be friends then?" Penny smiled hopefully.

Pyrrha shot Jaune a questioning glance, to which he just nodded. Pyrrha assumed her previous expression almost instantly. "Yes Penny, I think we shall."

Penny leaped into the air in joy. Nora jumped alongside her and then they both giggled.

"Oh god, if she's anything like Nora, I don't think we'll need to fight." Pyrrha appeared at Jaune's side and whispered out the side of her mouth. Jaune stifled a laugh and resorted to coughing instead.

They settled back into their positions, Penny using her scroll while standing in the middle of the room. Pyrrha had tried to get information out of Jaune about Penny but he told her he would tell her later. She retreated with a doubtful look on her face but trusted him in the end.

Minutes passed while they waited. They watched the rays of the sun throw shorter and shorter shadows as dawn progressed. Jaune was thinking about the wisdom of asking base whether they were sure the intruder was alive after all.

Sitting in the silence, Jaune reflected on the events of the past couple of hours.

Raven and he had infiltrated an SDC Mining Camp on the suspicion that the SDC was hiding something that required Atlesian tech to guard. Raven's claims had not been unfounded, what little he had seen of the living conditions of the workers, more accurately slaves, had been exactly what Raven had told him.

Her reasons for visiting the camp had seemed completely bunk to him. Some ancient evil that controlled the Grimm was now using the largest Dust Company to forward its goals? Give him a break, nothing supernatural couldn't be explained with some simple sleight of hand, smoke, and mirrors.

But after stepping foot in that mine, his opinion and view on the world had completely changed. To start things off, he had been teleported into a room that was literally impossible in 3d space. Not by the limit of human ingenuity, but by definition.

Next, the whole ordeal with awakening some ancient being at a temple. Jaune had accepted that teleportation was a possibility, but this was getting ridiculous.

That's when the damn thing decided to reveal it had been hitching a ride in _Jaune's goddamn mind_ and wanted to kill everything Jaune loved. Oh, and it knew Jaune from ages past and called him Aurawielder. Go figure.

The thing that tried to not just kill him but erase him from existence inside Jaune's own mind. Jaune had managed to escape and stop the thing from killing Raven, but he had no idea what would happen next. He knew that the invader they were fighting was none other than his own Promethean, this time possessed by someone else. It felt wrong.

Jaune had put off the incredible strangeness of the whole ordeal until now, but he let it wash over him now. The more he came to terms with it, the easier it would be to adapt to it.

Not to mention the creepy-ass voice that had been giving him visions and helping him practice killing Grimm in them. She had contacted him once or twice, giving him small upgrades each time, boosting his reflexes slightly, making his body and mind more efficient, and a couple others.

He still had no idea what she was or what she wanted, but he played along as long as she had power over him. Plus, the gifts were quite useful in battle.

"Unregistered humanoid approaching this location! Alarms have not yet been tripped in this sector as it seems the intruder has jammed them. Trying to reroute now." Penny tapped away at her scroll, eyes flying across the screen.

Jaune almost cursed as he stood up and moved to his sword. He simply needed time, time to think about everything that had happened in more detail, to use that information to plan out his future moves. The first rule of a fight was 'know thine enemy', and that rule was being broken quite heavily.

Jaune bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for the Promethean to show himself. Jaune didn't know how he found him, or if he even was trying to go for Jaune at the moment. All that mattered was that he was here, and Jaune was pissed.

It was time to fight.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	21. Nocturne

**Team JNPR**

The Promethean's entrance was anticlimactic to say the least. The appearance of the Promethean on the radar was very brief before it too was jammed. The five of them got ready for some sort of surprise attack on their location, some sort of explosive or close quarters combat, anything that would throw them off.

And despite their anticipation of something surprising, they still were surprised when the Promethean simply walked out of the shadow of a hangar and started walking casually towards them.

Jaune watched his own creation approach, feeling curiously detached. The whole sequence of events seemed so surreal.

The figure stopped 20 feet out. He bowed deeply at them and then straightened up. "Seems like I found you Jaune!"

"It seems you have, Promethean, and quite a search it must have been. Now I don't know if you know this, but you are currently standing chest deep in an Atlas military base. They may not know that you are currently here, but once they do you'll be ripped apart." Jaune projected as much confidence as he could.

"Speaking of which, how did you get in here without alerting the guards?" Pyrrha leaned forwards. "This is a high priority base; the security is some of the best in the world."

The figure just laughed, a harsh grating, warbly, discordant sound. "Oh, but so is Beacon's."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Ask Jaune, I'm sure he knows what I'm talking about. Don't you, Jaune?" The Promethean's tone was innocent, but Jaune could tell the underlying malice.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha turned her head at him. "What does he mean?"

"I snuck out of Beacon to explore." _Well, sometimes I did it in the body standing opposite us. Omission isn't lying is it?_ "Don't see how sneaking out of Beacon has to do with sneaking in here."

"If you can leave somewhere, you can always come back. I quite literally drove right in through the front gate." C shrugged. "Wasn't that hard in all honesty."

"And how many did you kill?" Jaune knew there was more. The soldiers wouldn't have let him in that easily.

"Don't know, lost count at 20." He sounded like he had just given Jaune the weather.

The rest of his team gasped. Jaune simply buried his face in his hands. "Goddamnit. Are you serious? Why?"

"To kill you of course. You are too much of a threat."

"Who commanded you to?"

"Oh no, not that easily. You'll figure it out eventually if you survive long enough. Now, let's start before I get bored. I hate fighting bored, ruins the fun." The Promethean unsheathed his sword and turned it in the sunlight.

Jaune turned to look at his teammates, only to flinch a little to see Pyrrha right next to him.

"Jaune, there is something wrong, something dangerous about him. Besides the fact he killed innocent soldiers and now is trying to kill us, I can barely feel any aura coming from him."

"I can feel it too. Life in general feels warm and welcoming, but he feels like the Grimm, auraless." Ren walked up. He looked disturbed at the news.

"Soulless." Pyrrha looked at the figure, who stood there unmoving. She frowned and turned back to them.

"Nora, Penny, how long until we get communications again?" Jaune called over to the two who were huddled around Penny's scroll.

"No idea Jaune. I don't know what he did but we don't have any communication with the network towers. He seems to be using a jammer as all I'm picking up is loud static. Trying to counter his jam will be incredibly difficult with this equipment but I'll try my best." Penny pressed a button and a panel on the panel slid open to reveal what looked to Jaune as the inner workings of the wireless beacon of the post.

She started to rearrange wires, consulting her scroll every so often. There was no need to physically look at the screen, but Penny preferred to act like a normal person around others.

Jaune turned back to the Promethean to see him standing still, acting as if he had all the time in the world. Jaune leveled his sword at center mass and fired the pre-charged railgun. The shot tore away from the barrel, leaving a yellow smear of molten metal and ionized air in its path.

The Promethean turned and leaned backwards incredibly quickly, watching the projectile go right past him and carve a hole in the asphalt. He straightened up and dusted himself off. "My turn?"

He crouched and leaped straight forwards, sprinting towards the post. Jaune and Pyrrha vaulted over the waist high wall and fell on him, red and white blades gleaming in the light.

The Promethean's blade came up to block Pyrrha's and turn Jaune's away. He used his momentum to roll forwards and leap onto the wall of the outpost. He jumped off it and slashed at Jaune's defenses.

Jaune retreated under the barrage, managing to get his shield up during a very brief lull in the attacks. The Promethean's attacks were lightning fast, a dozen raining down on his shield in a couple seconds. Jaune had no idea how he was managing to do that without tearing his arm off, but he had no time to think.

Pyrrha recovered from her brief surprise at the Promethean's insane speed and threw her shield in a downward arc, distracting the Promethean who produced a shield out of seemingly nowhere.

Jaune noticed this, and hoped that none of his teammates saw the sudden disappearance of the scabbard on the Promethean's waist. It would just lead to awkward questions later on.

The Promethean fought both Pyrrha and him on two sides, blocking Jaune's attacks with his sword and Pyrrha's with his shield. Jaune pressed him, trying to get the Promethean to hold his sword closer to his body.

He must have realized what Jaune was trying to do since he disengaged from the fight and retreated, watching the two of them. Jaune watched him warily, surprised at how much better the Promethean was at fighting than he or even Pyrrha. Simply managing to hold Pyrrha off was no easy task, but to make two of the best fighters at Beacon stay on the defensive for half the battle? Impressive.

Jaune had also detected no aura during their slightly unbalanced duel, which meant that the Promethean was managing to hold their aura-boosted attacks with his strength only.

 _How the actual hell does he manage to do that? I know for a fact that that body cannot sustain those forces for long without aura. He should know, he made it._

"Well fought Jaune. And you too Pyrrha. Very well done indeed. I did not expect such a response, though I am happy to finally get some opponents I have to work to kill. It's been ages." The Promethean broke the tense silence that had filled the air. He stretched leisurely and relaxed, body language screaming confidence.

Pyrrha seemed mildly shocked that the Promethean knew her name, but hid it well: Jaune barely read it. His theory was correct; the Promethean had managed to crack the body's memories. If Jaune could read Pyrrha's emotions, that meant the Promethean could too, which would lead to awkward situations if the Promethean opened his gob.

"I see you read up on my background Promethean. Not content with simply being business partners, you had to know more."

The Promethean cocked his head and Jaune got the feeling that he was smiling grotesquely behind that visor. Jaune hoped the Promethean would go along with it, if only for giggles. He seemed the type to play with his prey before eating its brains and leaving it to bleed out.

"Yes, that is true. 'Information is Power', and this information was something that everyone was trying to get their hands on. A genius suddenly appearing and taking Vale by storm seemingly overnight? Did your friends never question your…background?"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha out the corner of his eye. He waited to see her reaction, if she would doubt him or trust him completely. To his immense relief her posture immediately grew more resolute.

"I trust my team leader and friend completely. You will die before you try to do anything to him or this team." Pyrrha spun her sword into its javelin form and threw it straight up, slightly forward. The Promethean watched it arc through the air and stretched a hand out casually to catch it. He focused his attention back to the duo in front of him as he waited for the javelin to fall into his hand.

Jaune saw Pyrrha's aura flare slightly. She tensed, which worried Jaune. This tactic was never one they had practiced before and so he didn't know what move would be most effective after Pyrrha did her thing.

Pyrrha threw her shield onto the ground, convex side down. Jaune knew what _that_ meant and leapt to the side as the shield exploded upwards, kicking up a huge dust cloud that covered the area around Pyrrha.

"NORA NOW!" Pyrrha's voice was hard to locate, but the effect of the shout was hard to miss. A bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the javelin, that was inches from the conductive metal of the Promethean's suit.

The material was meant to be a Faraday cage to stop the effects of strong electrical fields from hurting him inside the suit. But now it protected the Promethean instead.

The charge flowed harmlessly through the special conducting channels on the surface of the armor and down into the ground. The Promethean grabbed the javelin and smashed Pyrrha as she flew at him from the Dust cloud.

 _Thermal vision! Goddamit!_ Jaune cursed himself for not implementing some sort of kill switch for his armor. He cut himself some slack though: how was he supposed to know when his body was going to possessed by an ancient evil?

Pyrrha flew backwards into the side of the outpost, creating a large dent in its side. Jaune shot a flare at the Promethean's feet (a Fire and Wind Dust mixture that took some time and lots of protective suits to get right). The flare should disorient the suit's sensors slightly which gave him enough time to get back to the outpost.

He slammed a Barrier crystal into the ground next to Pyrrha and climbed the wall into the outpost. Penny was still working with the network of the base, trying to coordinate reinforcements. She glanced apologetically at him, which he took to meant the circuits were fried quite damn well.

Nora kneeled on the floor, three spent Shock crystals lying around her. A puddle of vomit lay in the opposite corner. Ren supported her as she swayed in place, a distant look in eyes. Jaune took one Aura crystal from his pouch and tossed it to Ren. Ren nodded his thanks, boosting Nora's aura artificially.

Jaune peered out to see the Promethean with the sword in railgun form, aiming straight at Pyrrha. He fired and the round slammed into the Barrier, transferring all its energy into the translucent blue shield. It dropped to the ground glowing red hot. The Barrier thinned to almost transparency.

Another round slammed into the shield and Jaune threw another precious Barrier crystal down to the ground. This time, an explosive shot ripped the outer shell apart and weakened the newer, inner one slightly.

Ren stood, supporting Nora as she got to her feet, a weak smile on her face. "That strike was almost as large as the pancakes Ren made on my 13th birthday. Did it work? I hope it worked!"

Jaune shook his head no and her smile dropped, replaced by shock then despair. Another explosion rocked the shield, which could hold back only two more shots from the railgun.

Pyrrha seemed to be out for the count, the impact decimating her aura readings. It spoke to the cunning of the Promethean that he used Pyrrha's own aura-boosted momentum to slam her into the wall of the outpost.

Penny was deep in cyberspace, working with the other robots and computers of the base to get any help. If the Promethean had been thorough, it would take Penny ages to even contact another terminal let alone coordinate an attack.

Jaune turned to Ren, the only other fully functioning member of the team and nodded at him. They had drilled for long hours together, trying to get their aura-focused fighting styles to output damage at maximum efficiency. And now was the true test of what they had learned.

Jaune used the last dregs of the Barrier to turn the incoming railgun shot around with a Wind Crystal, and sent it flying back at the Promethean at the speed of a baseball.

Ren leaped into the air, using Wind to dash to the right of the Promethean while firing his dual green submachine guns, fitted with special bullets meant to pierce through armor, weakening it to lateral stress.

Jaune threw a simple frag grenade at the Promethean, who batted it away with his blade. Jaune didn't give him an opportunity to think as he sent two more toward his head, timed to explode at lethal range.

They were batted away, the explosion barely fazing any of the combatants. They were meant to disrupt packs of Beowolves, not Hunters.

Jaune sprinted at the Promethean and swung his sword at his legs, turning his sword at the last moment so that it deflected off the Promethean's shield and towards his head. The sword missed as Jaune's opponent dropped to the ground. Jaune somersaulted over the leg as it swept through the area where Jaune had been a few milliseconds ago.

Bullets pinged off the Promethean's armor though some managed to make their mark. The Promethean paid him little mind, which meant that that particular body didn't contain the memories of the specifics of Ren's abilities. Which was excellent luck. Jaune jumped backwards to dodge the slashes of his opponent's sword. He stayed on the defensive the entire time, leading his possessed clone away from the outpost.

Ren leaped at the Promethean's back, only to jump off the Promethean's shield as it swung around. Jaune used this opportunity to dive headfirst at the Promethean. They crashed to the ground, the metal armors that each wore making it difficult to get an advantage over the other.

The Promethean managed to grab a hold of Jaune's head and heaved, prying him off and sending him flying into the air. Jaune recovered and landed on his feet. He backpedaled to put as much distance between him and the Promethean as possible.

Ren was nowhere to be seen, but the Promethean still looked around subtly, giving Jaune a sense of pride.

"Jaune Arc, a remarkable fight. Better than the scum that faced me earlier. Almost manages to make an inkling of sense why you would support such a weak species. Almost. Now the time for games is over, you don't seem to have any of your wild cards left.

One unconscious, the other almost so. Your _very_ irritating green friend, gone, a fool to attack, a fool to think he would be safe far from here. And now it's just you and your aura versus me and your suit. Your two inventions against each other, three if you count releasing me as creating me.

Now, Jaune Arc. I shall finish what I…" The Promethean couldn't finish his statement due to the two-ton ship that slammed into him from above. Jaune was thrown backwards by the force of the explosion and rolled to a stop.

He gaped at the flaming wreck that lay in the middle of the airfield. There was no trace of the Promethean in the rubble, or for the fight for that matter. Jaune got up to see Penny and Ren running at him carrying Pyrrha and Nora respectively over their shoulders.

A cargo airship fell through the air and half-crashed half-landed 50 feet from him. Jaune stared at it, gaping before turning back to see Penny earnestly pointing at it. Jaune turned and ran to it, throwing the door open to see it empty. Penny ran up and leapt in, taking Pyrrha straight to the back of the ship, with Ren following with Nora.

Jaune leaped in and slammed the door shut, heading to the cockpit. The shit contained a Vertical Take-Off and Landing system which Jaune employed to lift them from the trench the ship's 'landing' approach had carved into the field.

Once in the air, he activated autopilot to take them to Vale before heading to the back of the ship to check on Pyrrha and Nora. He found them in a small medbay that was better suited to be called a closet. It contained a bed, a counter and some chairs with barely any room to move around. Ren sat with Nora on stools in the hallway. Nora sipped from a cup with a blanket around her. They nodded at Jaune as he approached. Jaune lay a hand on Nora's shoulder before heading into the medbay.

Pyrrha lay breathing slowly as Penny fussed with the medical equipment. He tapped on her shoulder and she whirled around, startled.

"Jaune! Are you injured? Do you require any attention?" Penny's eyes widened in concern as she ran tests and tried to scan him for internal injuries. Jaune smiled and pushed the probe away.

"Penny, I'm fine. My aura protected me from whatever I couldn't dodge. Thank you." Jaune waited for Penny to relax before asking the number one question on his mind.

"Penny, what in the actual hell just happened back there?"

Penny looked up slightly guiltily. She played with her hands nervously as she thought up a proper response. "I should have told you what I was planning, but there was no time! The Promethean was an immediate threat and I used the most efficient method of neutralizing it. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no, no, Penny you did nothing wrong." Jaune had seen the slight self-doubt start to creep into her expression and shut it down as fast as he could. "Just surprised me that's all. How'd you do it?"

"I knew that traditional reinforcement like ground or air support could not feasibly be requested as that would require actual communication. Instead, I scrambled the brains of one of the drone ships flying overhead to make it crash into the Promethean. I also used the drone ship as a relay to hijack this ship to pick us up. It was a round landing but by the reports the shit is giving, it seems to be mostly healthy."

Jaune gaped at her. "How long did it take you to do this?"

"About three seconds."

Jaune smiled and shook his head. "Penny, you are one smart girl, you know that?"

She smiled. "Learned from the best."

Jaune got up and walked out of the small room to go and talk to Ren and Nora. He leaned against the doorframe and waited for one of them to ask one of the million questions he knew would be forthcoming.

Their unwavering loyalty to him had filled him with pride, but Jaune knew that no matter how much they trusted him, he couldn't tell them the truth. Not yet, it would only confuse them and lead to doubt when there should be action. Better to reveal the truth after things had settled down. A war on two fronts is never desirable.

The silence stretched on, though it wasn't a very awkward silence. The three were comfortable with each other, with the latest battle only strengthening their relationship. The engine noise increased slightly as time passed, though that was probably due to a strong headwind, Jaune reasoned.

The noise steadily rose in volume, which started to worry Jaune. Even Nora in her weakened and Aura-fatigued state noticed this anomaly. The hum turned to a roar and Jaune turned to ask Penny what the matter was when the noise reached a peak and suddenly dropped back to what it had been originally.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, about to ask Penny to check and display the exterior sensors when a thump reverberated through the ship.

"Jaune! Something is tearing into the cabling of the ship, right above the cockpit. The video feed and comms from the cockpit are offline, disabling my ability to see what is causing this." Penny's eyes defocused as she focused on the internals of the ship and the information being relayed through them.

Jaune put a hand on his sword hilt and strode towards the front of the ship. If it was a Nevermore, it would be easy to deal with. A Giant Nevermore would be problem however.

Jaune reached the cockpit and pulled the door open. He looked around the room, freezing when he saw a glint of something that retracted through the ceiling leaving behind a thin hole.

 _That...that's not a claw._

Another glint of something appeared, though it was too dark to see what exactly the object was. Jaune knew that strange creatures of Grimm lived in the area between kingdoms, where there wasn't as much opportunity to hunt humans. Inter-Grimm fighting was the way of life her and some truly horrifying species where rumored to have evolved and to rule here.

Jaune pulled his sword slightly out of the scabbard as he got ready for an attack. The seconds felt like minutes as nothing happened. A loud crack startled him as a portion of the thick-armor plated metal fell into the cockpit. Jaune braced against the sudden pressure differential caused by having a hole in the roof of your airship.

Jaune used a Wind Crystal to deflect the air around him so that he could see clearly. Something dropped into the hole, something human-sized.

Something human shaped.

A cold shiver went down Jaune's back as he recognized the silver glint of the armor of the creature, the relaxed posture. Its body was blacked and had jagged pieces sticking out of it, with a portion of its metallic armor completely sheared off to reveal a torn undersuit and burnt skin underneat. Jaune backed up into the hallway as the humanoid turned a half melted helmet to face Jaune, a maniacal, mutilated smiling face behind the smooth metal that had fused with the raw red flesh.

"It's not that easy to kill me Jaune. Trust me, you've tried plenty of times."

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	22. End of the Line

**Team RWBY**

The four girls ran through the base as the explosions continued to send out shockwaves that shook both them and the building to the core. If it were not for aura their eardrums would have ruptured ago. Dust fell from the ceiling in a veritable downpour, slowly lowering visibility. The route directly to the entrance had been blocked when a section of the wall had collapsed into the hallway, leaving the girls to climb the ramp it made to the floor above.

Yang had cocked her gauntlets to blast their way through the obstacle but Blake had quietly and urgently reminded the blonde of the precarious state of the building.

The new hallway went back in the direction of the fighting but the four had no other choice. Ruby's normally cheerful demeanor had dropped into near despair. The other's expressions were harder to read for the young leader but she could tell even the normally stoic Blake was upset.

The regular shaking increased in frequency, increasing Ruby's respect for Oobleck even further. She had never seen two certified Hunters fight to the death before, and from what was happening to the building was testament to the raw power of the fighters.

Ruby intentionally kept her mind off the identity of the person who Oobleck was fighting with. She told herself that it was just a Hunter gone mad. It happened from time to time, at least according to what she had heard on the news before her dad turned it off.

A Hunter whose entire team was killed in an ambush coming back spouting nonsense. Another who had spent a year alone in the wilderness on a recon mission. That one came back near braindead. Most of them died and a small memorial was held for them, but the ones who held on to life caused quite a stir in Vale.

Living on Patch had secluded her from the daily happenings of the city but she knew how the wilderness changed the hardiest of Hunters.

And so that's what she told herself to stop herself from freaking out.

The others were in similar situations. Their methods to cope with the situation were mostly centered around ignoring the opponent's true identity. They continued running, catching glimpses of more Grimm than they had ever seen pour over the walls. Beowolves were immediately picked off and turned into mush by the sentry turrets, while the larger Ursa and the occasional Deathstalker remained behind the effective meat shield of the Beowolves.

So far, the defense systems seemed to be strained to their limits yet holding the horde back. The bodies were piling faster than they could dissolve, creating a mound over the fence that offered a bridge over the exterior static defenses of the base. The mist of dissolving Grimm bodies covered the horde in a shroud of false darkness in the dim light of dawn.

They had run the length of the building trying to find a staircase to a higher level. It seemed like only the first floor had been affected by whatever had killed everyone in the building. Which meant that the _thing_ had killed all the escapees when their hope of escape was highest.

After turning the corner, they finally saw a sign that the light of the dawn luckily illuminated. They found the staircase with minimal difficulty and moved to the third floor. It seemed much the same, the exterior wall on one side and office doors along the other side.

Ruby almost shrieked as she felt her scroll shake. She pulled it out with shaking hands as her control over her emotions slipped further thanks to the sudden vibration.

Goodwitch's face appeared on the scroll, eyes worried and appearance disheveled. Her attention snapped from whatever she was doing to the camera instantly, concern increasing further at the shakiness of Ruby's video feed.

"Ruby? What is going on? My sensors are telling me all Team RWBY and Professor Oobleck's vitals are elevated, but that only his aura is being affected. Please report." Goodwitch's voice was more tired that Ruby had ever heard, betraying the stress that must be on her at the moment.

Ruby's teammates slowed down to let her keep pace with the scroll in her hand, listening in to the conversation.

"The base was trashed, all personnel killed. We searched for the source, found some kind of anomaly. It smelled terrible, like something rotting. A man came out from the source, who Professor Oobleck seemed to recognize. They talked for a little bit and then the professor told us to run upon which the two started fighting."

Another staircase ascended, another empty floor. Ruby continued her story. "We're heading to the roof for immediate evac, as there is an extremely large force of Grimm attacking the base right now. We have no idea the base is going to be destroyed either by the fighting or the Grimm and I repeat, we need evac right now!"

Finally, a sign that gave the direction to the roof. Goodwitch typed something into her computer before responding. "Understood. Emergency evacuation and Hunter Team POPY is en route." Goodwitch then leaned towards the camera, staring directly at Ruby. "Can you describe anything more about this anomaly? Anything that the man said?"

Ruby nodded. "The professor told us to tell the headmaster that the deep rises. The man seemed to be someone close to…"

That was as far as Ruby got before Goodwitch's eyes widened in fear, which surprised Ruby so much she stopped talking. Goodwitch frantically typed something more into her computer before turning back to Ruby.

"Team RWBY, the emergency evac should be here in 20 seconds. When you see a flare, jump as high as you can, then stay still. Good luck, I expect a full debrief when you are safe." Goodwitch shut off the call and the screen turned black.

Yang ran up the short flight of stairs, barreling through the doors onto the rooftop. Two large guns fired upon a collection of Nevermore and their Giant counterparts, knocking some out of the sky while most nimbly dodged the large caliber bullets. Their aim was not helped by the shaking of the building.

A crash echoed throughout the building, followed by more shaking. A crack spread across the west side of the roof which spread faster than Blake liked the look off.

"Guys, the roof is going to fall apart soon. How much time do we have before we get our ride back to Beacon?"

"Five seconds!"

The crack spread rapidly towards the four. The seconds grew slow in Blake's adrenalin fueled mind. The crack spread to the walls of storage rooms on the roof. They ruptured a water tank, the water flowing out in slow motion.

One leader of the crack raced directly at them, as if it was assigned to hunt them down. A bright light illuminated the rooftop in stark detail, throwing all of the destruction in sharp relief. Blake crouched and tensed her muscles then leaped straight up. The rest of her team did the same, boosting themselves up with aura, semblance, or Dust. Blake leaped off a clone of herself and went limp, trusting Glynda's instructions.

Something slammed into her and knocked her breath out. Whatever it was felt like hitting a wall head on at high speeds. The team's collective aura flared and her Faunus ears picked up their groans over the sound of the west side of the building collapsing. Bullhead engines purred 50 feet above them.

Blake twisted to watch the scene unfold from within the confining net that had caught them. Pillars of flame and shock waves emanated from the now open side of the building, breaking every window in the block.

Four figures fell from the sky silhouetted against the fire. They disappeared amongst the Grimm with only muzzle flashes and Dust usage giving enough light to see them through the Grimm mist.

Blake felt the net jerk and start ascending suddenly, flattening her against the rough rope. The others didn't fare any better. Blake laboriously raised her slightly to look at Ruby and saw her taking deep breaths at the nauseating ascent.

Blake's ears popped twice, thrice, the experience even worse due to having double the ears of the average human. As she came down from her adrenaline high, the world refocused and her first conscious thought entered her head.

 _I wonder if this how a fish feels._

Well, maybe she wasn't fully off the high yet.

The cargo doors of the Bullhead opened, Mountain Glenn far below them. It was hard to miss the explosions and plumes of fire in the lightening sky. The Bullhead finished reeling them in the last couple of feet and shut the doors under them.

The net opened and they tumbled to the floor groaning. Aura might cure bruising and sprains, but it didn't ease the pain of such small wounds. Yang rubbed her forearms where a nasty red mark stretched from wrist to shoulder, spiraling halfway around.

She saw Blake looking and mouthed, ' _Rope burn'_. Blake winced and gave her partner a sympathetic look. It would heal over time, but still, rope burn wasn't fun ever.

A screen popped up on a holographic screen on an empty wall of the cargo hold. Goodwitch peered at them from behind her glasses.

"All good!" Ruby chirped, her attempt at her normal cheerful transparent as glass to everyone in the room. No one was going to call her out on it though; all of them wanted things to be as normal as possible.

"Uhh…" Yang began but immediately closed her mouth as Glynda held up a finger. Spending more than a year having her as a teacher gives one the utmost respect for her, even someone as free spirited as Yang.

Glynda finished typing whatever she had been and turned back to the screen. "Sorry for being unnecessarily rude but this was important. From your appearance I can tell you are at least physically all right."

The four nodded, noting her use of 'physically'. Oobleck, no matter his speech patterns in class, had been a good mentor to them all.

"Team POPY is a veteran team, RWBY. They can help Professor Oobleck get out of there safely. Thanks to your prompt and succinct description of the threat Ruby, they have been briefed appropriately. That is not your concern anymore so please do not dwell on it."

The team tried their best not to look dejected at having their first recon mission be such a curious, strange, and, in the end, utter failure. The three older girls pushed down their concern and feelings about Oobleck and their mission down, having had lots of practice in their short lives.

Ruby however was not as experienced. She stood slumped and played with a button on her sleeve, staring dejectedly at the ground. Goodwitch looked at Ruby for a second before softening her gaze.

"Ruby." That one word was warmer than any they had ever heard the stern Headmistress speak before.

Ruby looked up slightly, tears shining subtly in her eyes. "Ruby, look at me."

She looked up fully this time to look up at Glynda. "Ruby, none of this is your fault. It's no one's. Being a team leader means taking responsibility yes, but it also means that you need to know when to assign responsibility and when to do what is necessary to ensure the safety of those you care for. Down there was something that you had no prior knowledge about."

Ruby wiped her eyes with her sleeve, expression changing.

"So you took the decision to follow the professor and my orders. That led to your team being safely evacuated and the immediate and proper response of an emergency Hunter team. If you had hesitated at any point, if you had disobeyed any order, you would still be down there."

Ruby's eyes dried and her expression grew somber. "Thank you headmistress. That helped."

Yang reached over and gave her sister and team leader a quick squeeze. She smiled down at her and Ruby, after a second, reciprocated. Yang could see the fire return to her eyes and her smile broadened.

"Team RWBY, I declare your mission officially over. Generally, teams get a two to four week break between missions, but this is an emergency."

The temperature in the room dropped slightly. The four teammates shared the same thought. _If what they just experienced was the end of a mission, what qualified as an emergency?_

"Vale Interior has been breached. Defend the city until evacuation crews are finished. You will be dropped off in the commercial district and are in charge of Bridge 202 because of your previous experience fighting there. Exact mission details are being sent to your scrolls. You have an hour before you start. Good luck RWBY."

Ruby stood stunned at the announcement, just processing what they had just heard.

"Vale _Interior_?!" Yang was the first to speak up. "Someone tell me I misheard that Vale Interior has been breached?"

No one spoke up. Yang growled angrily as she clenched and unclenched her fists in an effort to control herself.

Weiss stood dumbstruck, still staring at the screen. She may not have spent as much of her life Vale as the other three, but Vale was where her life changed dramatically for the better. It was where she had experienced true freedom for the first time. It was where she had made true friendships and learned to protect those she loved.

There was no way in hell she would not give it her all to save as many people as she could.

"Complaining won't do anything Yang. Ruby, we need to come with a plan of attack. Blake, focus."

Blake snapped out of her mental turmoil, shutting away her own memories of the good and bad of the city to focus on the task at hand.

The Yang of a year ago would have snapped at that point and started yelling and threatening. But this was the Yang of today, who had spent a year mellowing at Beacon and getting a handle on her anger.

She recognized her anger. She liked it, but also knew it was a tool. Any out-of-control tool is bad. She calmed her breathing, feeling the quick jerky breaths give way to longer, steadier breaths.

Feeling normal, or as normal as one can feel in the situation, Yang joined the small huddle of her teammates.

"So we're being dropped off where we fought Torchwick's mech?" Yang inquired, confirming she had the right location in mind.

"And where Jaune got kidnapped."

"Jeez Blake, there was no need for that." Yang smiled a little to show she didn't mean it. Blake simply shook her head.

"According to the document, the highway was rigged with explosives at spots along its length that detonated when the inner walls of Vale were breached. Those on the bridge at that time are still on there and we have to stop any nasty Grimm from killing them." Ruby tried to use her leader voice to cheer herself up more than to cheer the others up. She knew that the happier they were, the less likely they were to make mistakes. With the added benefit of not adding to the beacon of negative emotion the bridge sections would look like to the Grimm.

They spent most of the hour planning how they were going to execute the plan. Placating the crowd was a priority, as was setting up Grimm traps around the perimeter. They made a list of everything they needed and stocked up from the boxes of ammunition stored in the corners of the hold.

The rest of the hour was spent quietly, each member reflecting on the past 24 hours in their own way, letting the emotions flow through them to pump them up for battle, with the added benefit of not having to deal with all of the memories in one go after the battle.

The scenery outside changed from trees and clouds of smoke to small buildings and fires to tall buildings and explosions. The four of them lined up at the cargo door, waiting for the command to drop.

The lights next to the door turned on, glowing orange as the gears engaged, then red as the door started to open. The morning air chilled the room, the wind whipping up every loose item in the hold.

Ruby turned her head to solemnly look at the rest of her team, steely determination overlaying the fire of purpose in her silver eyes. The drop light became green.

"Team RWBY, the light is green. Let's save some people!" Ruby leapt out of the Bullhead. The other three glanced at each other, shook their heads, and took the plunge as well, hurtling towards the hordes of Grimm ready to tear every living thing apart.

They were going to put a stop to that. One Grimm at a time.

 **Team JNPR**

Jaune paused for a second before backpedaling into the main room of the aircraft. He knew that none of his teammates other than Ren were fit to help right now and in the cramped space of the room they would just get in each other's way.

Jaune looked the Promethean up and down, the maniacal smile making him uneasy. If your enemy was logical, it was possible to find the logic they operated by to try and predict their next move.

"How did you get here?" Jaune was truly curious about this. Last he had seen, there was an airship on top him.

"Easy."

Jaune waited for an explanation but none came.

"Are you not going to answer me?"

"No. Why should I? We were having a nice conversation when you just had to end it so rudely. You could have told me you were getting bored. I wouldn't have been mad. I'd have just ended you and your friends utterly before moving on." The Promethean cocked his head, exaggerating his lopsided appearance even more.

"Yeah, no thanks. If you aren't going to tell me how you got here, let me guess alright? Yes or no only. Then we can get to the killing. We have plenty of time before we reach Vale for us to settle our differences."

The Promethean continued smiling grotesquely, the melted metal stretching his skin like an inflated balloon.

"That's a yes then. Alright. So you survived the crash. That is obvious, no need to nod yes or no."

The Promethean nodded anyways, leaning on a doorframe.

"The ship must have crumpled in on itself, reducing the force on you. Like a man trapped under a wall in an earthquake. The wall takes the load, transferring minimum force to you."

The grotesquery nodded again.

"Then you used some of your non-human strength that you get from _somewhere_ , still working on that part, to pull yourself out. The Scorch Dust that the engines ran on leaked, heating the metal of the ship and of the armor, causing the burns on you right now." Jaune's mind continued connecting the dots that seemed the most probable to him.

"Then you stole an aircraft from a hangar and flew here, hence the buzzing engine noise we heard."

The Promethean winced. "8 out of 10 Jaune. Passing, but nothing more. I didn't take it from the hangar, I hijacked one out of the sky. Jumping high isn't the height of my abilities, forgive the pun." The disgusting smile grew wider, the already tight skin around the mouth growing slightly translucent and tearing a little.

"You what…never mind." Jaune didn't even want to know right now. His mind was now working on ways he could get rid of the unwelcome visitor in the Promethean body.

"I take it we're done talking then?" The Promethean raised his gauntlets to face, the shield nowhere to be seen.

Jaune unclipped his sheath and kicked it under the door leading to the back of the ship. The sword would be a hindrance to him in the tight space. Easier to rely on aura and Dust as weapons.

The Promethean leaped forward, swinging his right arm wide. Jaune ducked and kicked the left hand as it tried to take him by surprise. He answered with a flurry of quick jabs to the ribs that the Promethean blocked easily. Jaune pushed him back a little by using aura to propel his punches. When the Promethean was near the opposite wall, Jaune pulled back and moved to his side of the room again, the two circling each other.

The door to the room opened and Ren's eyes peered out at the scene playing out in front of him. They widened imperceptibly before the door closed.

The Promethean used this distraction to run at Jaune and slide tackle him. Jaune tried to jump over the strike but the Promethean grabbed his ankle, causing Jaune to slam face first into the ground. Jaune twisted in the vice-like grip while slamming his boot into the Promethean's face.

The possessed body reached up and grabbed his other foot. Jaune looked at the mutilated face in faux despair, letting his opponent let his guard down slightly. He then smiled and activated the Scorch Dust he had put in his boots during his stay in Atlas. That idea may or may not have been intended as a birthday gift to a certain member of team RWBY who had one day vocalized her wish to have shotguns on all her limbs.

Now Jaune used the Dust to shoot scorching hot flames at the Promethean who let go off Jaune's feet immediately and rolled away.

Jaune threw more incendiary grenades at the Promethean who, after the first one hit him, started smacking them out of the air. Each exploded whenever the gauntlets struck, creating a firestorm in front of the Promethean.

Jaune threw the last firebomb before leaping forwards, Water Crystal already flying out of his hand.

The Promethean reached out a hand to seize the crystal. The hand closed around the crystal before slamming into Jaune's stomach, causing him to double up. The crystal promptly exploded in the Promethean's hand as Jaune activated the aura stored inside.

The resulting force caused the Promethean's hand to fly open and broke a couple fingers, judging by the cracks that accompanied the explosion.

The Promethean didn't scream or express any sign of pain. He stalked over to Jaune and knelt next to his supine body. He grabbed Jaune's face with his comparatively good hand and squeezed slightly.

Jaune stared up at the Promethean as he felt his skull protest against the pressure. Aura might heal him, but the pressure and pain weren't as easily preventable as blunt trauma and so Jaune would have to bear it for now.

If the Promethean did squeeze hard enough, Jaune wouldn't have enough time before his Aura lost the fight to do anything to stop the Promethean. And so he lay there staring at the single exposed eye of his nemesis.

"You and me, Jaune, we go way back. I used to want to be like you when we were young. We were inseparable. Always doing things together, making new stuff, driving everybody else crazy."

Jaune kept his mouth shut.

"That is, until we grew up." The Promethean squeezed a little more. "I don't know what came over you, but you changed. You grew strange. We started arguing, but this wasn't like before. This was different. You said some pretty hurtful things Jaune."

The Promethean squeezed even harder and Jaune could feel his cheekbones grind against their neighbors.

"Arguing became fighting, each fight soon became a battle. Then we were swept up by the war." The Promethean continued squeezing absently as his gaze grew slightly distant. "We could have been on the same side like old times. We would have fought and won together. But you had to oppose me at all times. Every step of the way."

Jaune had no idea what the Promethean was talking about. Everything he said was like being handed a piece of a completely unknown jigsaw puzzle.

"In the end, you lost and I won. Like I'd always known, I was the one in the right." The Promethean's smile, which had been slightly bittersweet during the story now grew sinister again.

"But why am I telling you all this verbally? Let's have a _deeper_ conversation." Jaune felt the same feeling of detachment as he had gotten back in the Schnee Dust Mines. This time however, the void wasn't featureless but was like that of a library with rows upon rows of books stretching into the distance on every side.

There were a couple monitors in front of him, one showing the Promethean's eye closed, face completely calm. The other was completely black with only a small, slightly crystalline structure below the middle of the screen. A graph stretched across the top, displaying a very slightly decreasing straight line.

There were a pair of headphones on the desk along with a keyboard.

 _Is this my brain? Or is this where my aura, my consciousness resides? What Pyrrha called my soul?_

An alarm blared over hidden speakers from all directions. Jaune winced at the sudden noise and wished them to be quiet.

And they did. Jaune tilted his head at that. _This_ is _my brain then. I control this. Well, here goes nothing._

Jaune looked at the chair, remembering his chair from his room back on Earth. He had spent an entire year's allowance on that chair and it was the best sitting experience he had ever had.

The simple office chair in front of him morphed into the chair he pictured in his mind. Jaune sank down into the chair and looked at the computer. He looked down at the keyboard, trying to see how this 'Sense-o-matic 3000' worked. To his surprise, the name appeared on top of the computer, written in his scrawling handwriting.

Jaune blinked. _Yeah, this is my brain alright._ He mentally erased the title before focusing on the keyboard. He willed the keyboard to add a screen to the side of it. No options popped up in front of him, but the screen automatically filled with notifications.

 _That's perfect. How did it do that without me thinking it? My subconscious?_ The Promethean's speech came back to him. _Previously saved settings?_

He opened the notification that blinked the most urgently. _URGENT: INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT INTR…_

Jaune closed it and sighed. He starred to will a third monitor into existence but paused. He turned to his side and imagined a floating holographic screen that displayed everything the monitors did.

He grinned as everything came up exactly as he wanted. He added a threat scanner to the bottom left of his vision which showed a red dot that was approaching his position.

Jaune sat back in his chair. He had a bit of time to get his ideal workflow set up before the Promethean came and had his 'deeper conversation'. A mic appeared on his desk and 7 speakers arranged themselves around and on top of the bookshelves around him. _Literal 3D surround sound? Can I get a hell yeah? And no, that's not literal, brain._

Jaune moved to the bookshelves and picked a book at random. He started reading but the language didn't seem to be in any language or format he understood. He put it back and opened another book.

He summoned a translating scanner to his aid and to his diminishing surprise, one appeared by his side.

It was a quadcopter with a slot in its body that was the perfect size for the book. The book glowed before a prompt popped up.

 _Play Memory? Y/N_

Jaune mentally gave his assent. The bookshelves all faded away and the world turned to darkness.

Jaune blinked and found himself during his first robotics competition. 7th grade. He looked around at the vast space and listened to the noise that filled it.

Jaune watched through his own eyes as he competed with his team against the best of other teams. He felt each moment of triumph and each moment of defeat. Those victories and defeats had seemed so significant before, but now were mere drops in the ocean.

The event was nearing its end now. Two teams from Jaune's school stood in the Top 8, his own and another.

The two teams gathered to discuss strategy and what best option would be. Jaune observed and took mental notes as the older boys and girls threw around ideas and reached conclusions.

In the end, they decided that the other team would be given the favor when they competed against each other.

Jaune couldn't believe it. They were going to just throw the match. Without a fight!

His teammates tried to explain to little emotional Jaune about how the other team had a higher chance to win in Top 4 than they did, and how letting them win would benefit the school as a whole.

Jaune didn't care. It was his first competition and he would do his best to hang on and try to win it for himself and his teammates could all go to hell.

He capitulated to his team on the request of driving the robot during every match. Relieved that the young competitive blonde had agreed to the strategy, they started preparations for the matches.

Jaune gave it his all during the matches despite his teammates constantly telling him to give it up and let the better, older, more experienced team win.

Jaune ignored them all. And Jaune won.

He ignored the team's glares and rejoiced in the feeling of winning in the Top 8. He felt like he was at the top of the world.

But then it all came crashing down. He lost in the Top 4 against a team that the other team from his school had beat in all of their matches.

All of his happiness and joy turned to ashes and frustration. Voices were raised and a shouting match took place. Jaune and his team were banned from the competition for a year, which meant that 3 of their 8 members could participate ever again as they were graduating that year.

The memory turned off and Jaune returned to himself. The memory seemed significant to him somehow, but he couldn't put exactly pin down why. Maybe it was his subconscious at it again?

Jaune watched the red dot pause before turning the corner to where Jaune sat in his chair, waiting.

The Promethean C looked…pristine. No, better than pristine. His armor looked exactly like he envisioned in his head.

 _My idea for how it should look. My ideal. My truth. Reality doesn't dictate the laws here, I do._

Jaune opened his mouth to start the conversations that the two of them always have before they fight. The Promethean pulled a gun and pointed at Jaune, his finger hovering over the trigger.

Jaune tried to imagine that the gun didn't exist, but nothing happened. Jaune tried again, but again nothing happened.

A crystal clear laugh emanated from the helmet. "You're not the only one who controls reality in here. I'm invading your mind right now. I have almost as power as you do."

"So what is the deeper conversation you wanted to have?" Jaune tried to look at the Promethean around the gun but the barrel remained focused on him, the maw menacing.

"I just wanted to understand how I have defeated you yet again. For the fourth time. I want you to know after how you humiliated me before the war, I defeated you four times. You evaded death at every opportunity but I want you to realize and understand exactly what's going to happen now."

Jaune did his best to appear slightly bored. "You've already said it a hundred times. Kill me and all those I love. What else is new?"

The Promethean simply titled his head. "Y'know, that would have angered me earlier. But now that I have you here at my mercy, I feel like the power equation is a little in this direction."

"So I have no escape?"

"None."

"How do you figure?"

"Well…" The Promethean sat back in a chair that appeared out of nowhere. The gun didn't waver, sadly. "Before you can move out of that chair, I can shoot you dead in it. There is no way to exit this simulation of sorts. Terrible decoration, to be honest. The best you can do is to not make me mad. Otherwise your end will be both physically, "he squeezed his empty fist and Jaune felt pain shoot through his own head. His view of the world on his holograms showed the Promethean body squeeze tighter. "And mentally."

A gunshot rang out and Jaune howled as he felt the bullet pierce his foot. He doubled over in his chair and tried to control the pain.

"No way to escape that I'm afraid. This is the furthest you can retreat within yourself. Physical pain is dulled but mental pain, "he laughed. "Mental pain is as potent as physical pain is in the real world."

Jaune saw movement out of the corner of his eyes in the holographic monitor representing his eyes. He saw Penny and Ren approach him, shutting the door behind them. They stayed behind the Promethean while Penny scanned his vitals.

Jaune's attention came back to the Promethean in front of him.

"Hey old _buddy_ you done yet? I think I have a train to catch, frightfully busy wi…" Another gunshot. This time it was his other foot. Jaune grit his teeth but screamed nonetheless.

"I told you. It will hurt you less if you just shut up and let me finish. But no. You have to be the smartass you always want to be." The Promethean got up, towering over him.

Jaune looked up with a pained grin before his face was slammed to the side by the Promethean's metal covered fist.

Jaune spit some blood out that evaporated the moment it left his mouth. _At least I don't have to clean up._

A plan started to form in his mind as he realized what the crystalline blot was in the middle of the black screen. _The Aura crystal in the Promethean's chest!_

"I just have a question for you before you kill me. Please do answer this one." Jaune started to build upon the plan and tried to buy more time.

The Promethean stared down at him. Jaune prepared to execute his plan if the Promethean gave the answer Jaune wanted him to give.

"Do you know how the suit you're wearing works?"

"This junk? No. The metal is well made but all these trinkets are garbage. Aura tricks, I always hated them. Part of the reason I hate you. Do you even remember why we fought? I suppose if you were to learn you would realize the error of your mistakes. Too late for t…"

"Hey, mate, stop reminiscing." Jaune opened his mouth to continue before a round went into his kneecap. Jaune screamed yet again. Unlike the other two wounds, this one somehow didn't fade in pain.

"You just won't learn. It's cathartic for me, so please, do continue."

Jaune swallowed bile as his eyes streamed tears. The lower of his body was growing numb with pain.

"Another quick question. Do you understand what that small yellowish crystal in the middle of your chest is?" Jaune waited for an answer in the negative so he could play his trump card.

"Actually, I do."

Jaune stared at him in stunned silence for a bit. "What do you mean, you do? I thought you absolutely despised aura?"

"I still do. But let's not forget the memories you generously donated to me along with the body. Just be aware that your friends are on this ship as well and if you choose to activate it, you will kill me, yourself, as well as the other four. And yes, I know you can activate it right now. And that you are bluffing about using it. You may have beat me and imprisoned me at the end of the war, but I still outplayed you all the way here.

"So Jaune, the question stands. All of your friends' lives ended by your hand, or giving them a fighting chance to fight against a _very_ different Jaune. The second option is one I would prefer, as you would die and I would live. Which is how the war should have ended, by the way."

Jaune stared at the Promethean, considering his options. It was true, he could drain the aura crystal through the path the Promethean used to enter Jaune's mind. That would have the effect of setting off the self-destruct of the suit which would kill everyone on board the ship. He loses, his team loses, his opponent loses.

The other option was unthinkable. He loses, his team loses, and the enemy wins.

But…what if there was a third option. This one relied on Penny. He would lose, his opponent would lose, but the team would win.

The Promethean raised his gun again. "Choose quickly. I'm taking the second option as default by the way."

"Can I just say my goodbyes to my friends? A sort of pathetic end, telling them not to be too sad when I die." Jaune appeared as defeated as he could.

"Go ahead. Sound as pathetic as you can. Otherwise the second option is put into play immediately."

Jaune lifted the mic from the desk delicately. He took a breath and spoke.

"Penny! Listen closely. I am going to die by the Promethean's hand and…and…" Jaune started to pretend to cry but he didn't have to try too hard. The tears came naturally.

"Jaune, are you alright? What is the doing to you?"

"Never mind that. Just promise me that you'll take care of my undid iridium. The code is -1."

Jaune saw Penny's reaction as her programming took over her body. The Promethean sat back in the chair, apparently amused with Jaune's crying.

"I'm sorry Penny. I really am."

Ren had backed up to the other side of the room as Penny activated a gun that was stored in her arm. Her arm slid open and a long barrel emerged, pointing directly at Jaune. The Bullhead door opened behind their bodies.

Jaune could see Penny's panicked eyes and felt even worse. The tears fell even harder, which must have pleased the Promethean as Jaune heard him chuckling.

"PENNY, what are you doing?!" Jaune heard Ren yell for the first time ever as the weapon in her arm charged.

Jaune closed his eyes as the shot fired. His aura graph on the black screen plummeted to near zero and warnings popped up on every screen. He felt weightlessness as his and the Promethean's bodies were thrown out of the Bullhead by the force of the shot.

"Goodbye."

Jaune turned off the display and sat back in the chair.

"That was truly pathetic. Crying? Really?" The Promethean asked derisively.

"Does it matter? And put that gun down." Jaune sat up in his chair, confidence exuding from his body language.

The Promethean cocked his head in surprise.

"I may have lost this feud of ours. But that doesn't mean I'll let you win. And those four outside this little fight of ours? They deserve the Top 4. They deserve a shot at winning. You don't." Jaune primed the Aura crystal for detonation.

Jaune smiled and sat back in his chair and grinned.

"I choose Option 3."

The crystal activated and the world went white.

* * *

Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	23. Story Overhaul Update

Hey guys! First of all, sorry if I spammed you with new chapter notifications. That was unintentional if it happened.

I just want to let all you wonderful people know that I have completely overhauled the beginning of this story (first 5 chapters ish) to fit the tone, theme, etc of the later chapters. I wasn't very happy with it and based on reviews, many of you weren't either.

The changes are live right now, the 2nd of October 2016. The chapter count went down one I think. There was a snarl up with the numbering on my end and fixing it in the Doc Manager and my own laptop is too much of a hassle.

So yeah, please give me reviews and feedback about the new starting! I spent quite a bit of time doing the rewrite (more extensive than I had thought). This is the first wave of rewrites and edits I have planned and is the biggest.

Please point out any inconsistent details or typos in a PM to me, I have a habit of glazing over sentences while reading and miss out on these details. The rewrites also probably screwed up some detailing as I changed the appearance and characterization of Jaune and so there could be some references to the old Jaune later in the chapters that I missed. Anything would be a huge help to me.

Thanks for reading my stuff guys, y'all are great!


	24. From Bad to Worse

**Team JNPR**

 **Bullhead Main Room**

Ren stared at the shrinking forms of Jaune and the Promethean as they fell. Penny cowered in a fetal position in the corner, head hidden in her hands.

Ren's mind churned with turmoil. Jaune had trusted Penny absolutely. She had shot him in cold blood when he was vulnerable, lying in the grasp of the mutilated Promethean. If she was here to help murder Jaune, her actions didn't make it look like she was feeling anything like success.

 _Blackmail?_ Ren almost dismissed it outright, thinking that the Atlesian Armed Forces were strong enough to protect a Huntress-in-training. But that delusion had been violently and suddenly shattered after the Promethean had just waltzed into the base. _What was it that Jaune said before Penny shot him?_

Ren closed his eyes and concentrated on rewinding his memory to a few seconds ago. He stood mere feet from the Promethean, Penny kneeling by Jaune. Jaune's mouth moved and said something to Penny. Ren rewound again. And again. And again. Nothing, he couldn't make out the words that had caused Penny to shoot his team leader.

Ren looked up as Nora and Pyrrha entered the room. The door slammed closed behind them. Pyrrha still seemed dizzy and under the effects of aura exhaustion, but she stumbled over with Nora's help. The two kneeled next to Ren. He felt Pyrrha's entire body tense up as she realized what the falling objects were.

Ren could still see them falling, getting smaller and smaller as the seconds crawled by. He closed his eyes, thinking of the broader picture. Now was the time for action, not reaction. The fight had only really damaged the cabin and this common room. The cabin had suffered a 'catastrophic atmosphere breach' according to Penny. That must have been the Promethean's entry point.

The clangs of metal had reached Ren's ears mere moments after Jaune had left the Health Bay. Ren had left Nora to look after Pyrrha and raced to the main room. He arrived just in time to see the Promethean and Jaune circling each other in the enclosed space. The rest would be seared into his mind for years to come.

There had been no spray of blood, no indication that Jaune had been injured by the shot. Could there be a chance that they could catch him before he fell into the water? The chances were low, but low was better than nothing.

Pyrrha flinched next to him. Ren's eyes snapped open just in time to see the cause of Pyrrha's surprise. An orange flower bloomed where the two bodies had been a few milliseconds ago. A shockwave swept over the ship, shaking the platform they knelt on. Ren grabbed Pyrrha as she almost collapsed against him. He pulled her away from the edge and sat her up against the wall.

 _So much for catching him. Goodbye Jaune._

Nora glanced up from her unsuccessful attempts at consoling Penny. After spending so many years with her, Ren could read her like a book. Ren shook his head. Nora's eyes widened and she raced to the edge to watch as the final flames dispersed in the wind. The normally hyperactive girl kneeled stock-still, fighting back tears.

The wind howled through the cabin, doing its best to disperse the heavy atmosphere. Pyrrha leaned against the wall, eyes closed and a tear crawling down her face. Ren's normally stoic bearing was cracking as he fought to keep his emotions under control. Penny still lay completely still in the corner.

"How could it go so wrong?" Nora's voice was quiet, almost inaudible over the roar of the wind. "A damn ship was dropped on that freak. We're a mile high. How?!" Nora's hands curled into fists and her aura flared around her. She slammed her fist into the wall, almost tearing through it. Ren hadn't seen her this angry and frustrated since their village had been ransacked four years ago.

Ren grabbed her before she could lash out again. He wrapped his arms around her and held on as she tried to break out from his grip. Her struggles slowed as sobs shook her. Ren held her and shared in her grief as they had so many years ago. He could still remember the dark interior of the Bullhead that had carried them away from their burning village. Help had been too little, too late to save most of the citizens.

The wind increased in pitch and shut off entirely as the doors finally closed. Pyrrha opened her eyes and watched as Penny sat up. The girl was still unknown to her, but Jaune seemed to trust her. She had seemed exuberant, even slightly manic in her behavior before the fighting began. Now she was a far cry from the one back at the military base.

"What happened here Penny?" Pyrrha's voice cracked. Penny's eyes turned to her and they seemed distant, as if the redhead was simply looking but not processing anything. Pyrrha saw Ren's eyes turn to Penny, with anger in his eyes. Penny noticed and shrank slightly into herself.

"Tell her Penny. Tell her everything you did." Ren's voice was normally smooth and free of any overt emotions, but this was cold, even for him. Penny hesitated for a second before making up her mind. She moved to the center of the room and sat down cross-legged on the floor. Her eyes closed for a second before reopening.

Pyrrha gasped imperceptibly at the sight. Where green human eyes used to be now resided two green, slightly translucent orbs. Light shined out of them and onto the floor where a symbol showed up. A green sword hovering in midair before splitting into Atlas's emblem and two concentric arcs.

 _That's Jaune's symbol. What's that doing there?_

The symbols dissipated and a hologram of Penny showed up. It was the same happy and excited version of Penny that they had seen back at base.

"Salutations! I am Penny Polendina. You are most likely watching this because my human self is compromised for some reason. Not to worry! I am here to help. Please, converse as you would with a real human." The smile wavered microscopically.

"What…what do you mean _real_ human?"

"I am not a real human in the normal sense. The part of me talking to you right now is a computer program because my human self is incapacitated in some form. I guess you could call me Shilling." The hologram looked around with a half-smile before sighing a little. "That was supposed to be funny."

Nora had calmed down and was sitting opposite Pyrrha, staring at the hologram. Ren stood behind her, a similar expression on his face. The reason no one reacted was because of the absurdity of their situation.

"I must admit; I am a bit confused. I do not see any authorized Atlas personnel here. I am assuming that due to my deployment here, we are in a safe environment. Is that a correct assumption?"

Pyrrha nodded and the hologram smiled. "Excellent! What else can I do for you?"

"Are you saying Penny isn't a human?" Nora asked incredulously.

"Not in the traditional sense. Her genome, appearance, even behavior to some extent matches a human's. She even has an aura. A better term would be _cyborg_ , according to my internal dictionary.

She has robotic parts inside of her, meant to protect her and those she is assigned to protect. Weapons, plated endoskeleton, reinforced joints, the works. An AI imprinted on the 'brain'," the hologram made air quotes. "alongside the normal imprint of the brain."

 _Is this what Atlas has been doing? I had heard rumors, but this is ridiculous!_

"How had Atlas managed to do all this?" Ren gestured to Penny's body. "The technology isn't advanced enough to modify a human body to this extent."

The hologram beamed. "This body wasn't modified, it was created! My father started the project, and my brother joined in soon after to help finish it."

"Your…your father and brother? Do you mean you have family? They created you?"

"Well, not biologically speaking. Well, technically my father is the biological father of the original Penny whose brain we used for the imprint. My 'brother' helped develop the technology and ideas behind making me possible."

Pyrrha started rubbing her temples. It was going over her head and it didn't help that the hologram was doing a horrible job at explaining itself.

"Your father is Victor Polendina, right? Who's your so-called brother?"

"Jaune Arc." Penny's smile withered away like paper in a fireplace as she looked at everyone's expression. "Is…there something wrong? What happened?"

"You mean you don't know? You shot him off this ship, leading to his death." Ren stated bluntly.

Penny's eyes widened with shock. "WHAT? That…why would I…I don't believe it!"

Nora's eyes narrowed. She leaned towards the hologram. "You shot him and you don't remember?! What kind of…"

Penny held up her hands and started talking quickly. "Full disclosure, I am simply a backup. I do not have full access to memories. I do not understand why Penny would shoot Jaune, but I can search through the log dumps for the gun. Was there anything he said to her that caused her to react so…violently?"

Everyone turned to Ren. He grimaced. "He did say something, around a couple words before she stiffened up and raised her arm to shoot. I couldn't make out anything else."

The hologram nodded, saluted, and disappeared. Penny's body didn't stir. Pyrrha watched it for a little bit before looking back up to Ren.

"How did he die? What happened?"

Ren rubbed his eyes. "I wasn't there for the actual fight, but last I saw they were squaring off weapon less. The Promethean was faster than Jaune but the enclosed space evened the odds letting/Jaune held his own.

I came back here to think of a plan, before I heard a series of small pops. I rushed to the compartment to see the Promethean pinning Jaune down while squeezing his head. Jaune's eyes were closed and both of them were absolutely still."

"Still? Like not fidgeting, no struggling, nothing?" Nora asked, one eyebrow cocked in surprise.

"Nothing. It was absolutely surreal. I got Penny to come with me to scan the two to see what was going on. When Penny crouched near Jaune, he started saying something.

Penny stiffened up, the door opened, and she shot the two of them out of the ship with what I thought was a wrist mounted gun. As soon as Jaune fell out, she collapsed to the ground and crawled into the corner."

Pyrrha wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked back and forth. "How did that...criminal get on board? Didn't Penny crash an airship on top of him?"

"Analysis complete."

The hologram popped up once more, a bit more morose this time. "Seems like a manual override of the computer systems took place. Source was vocal. I ran the scans ten times to see if there was anything else that could cause the behavior you described, but its seems like that Jaune manually told Penny to shoot."

Another stunned silence. Nora broke it this time. "Why exactly would he program something like that into the software? It's literally a suicide button!"

"I'm sure Jaune had his reasons Nora." Pyrrha was having the same thoughts as Nora, but something in her told her that the entire story had not been told. They were missing something, something that would explain this mess. "He doesn't, didn't, do things for no reason, that much we can say for sure."

Silence fell over the four individuals in the room, each lost in their own thoughts. They each were reflecting on the day's events, how everything had gone downhill from dawn until now. Jaune was dead and that hurt like an open festering wound, but all of them tried their best to seal it. Grief and sorrow were not the way to go forwards right now; that would come later. Now was the time for action.

"Penny, how far from Beacon are we?" Pyrrha's leadership qualities started to assert themselves as she finished collecting herself. "Can you put in a call to Beacon Academy and patch it to my scroll?"

"I can do that. What importance should I list the call as?"

"Urgent."

The hologram disappeared again. Pyrrha put her scroll on the floor and waited for the call to be patched through. The scroll didn't have powerful enough antenna to work anywhere outside of populated areas, but the ship did.

It seemed like the Promethean hadn't taken them offline, otherwise the hologram would have told them already.

The three watched the scroll's face as it rang. Ozpin picked up on the fourth ring, the display to a picture of him in his office, sipping coffee. The city could be seen in the background, fires burning across the length of it.

Nevermore and Bullheads maneuvered around each other, the former gouging holes in the latter with its teeth and claws. The Bullheads returned the favor with what most soldiers call 'the big F-off bullets'. Each shot lit up the surrounding area in an aura of light.

"JNPR. It is good to see you. I have received news of an attack on the Atlesian base you were in. I heard reports of fighting, but I must admit I do not have all the details yet."

Pyrrha grimaced. "There was an attack, not on the base, but targeting Jaune. He's…he's dead."

Ozpin's stare . If it weren't for the movement far off in the city, it would have seemed like the video had frozen.

The three waited. Ozpin was known to do things like this and the best option was to wait him out. After a minute, Ozpin finally looked down at the table. "That is extremely unfortunate. JNPR Team Leader Pyrrha, mission report please."

Pyrrha took a second to gather her thoughts before starting. She detailed what happened after Jaune had been discharged and the reveal of his involvement with the Prometheans. She described the plan to use the Promethean's arrival as a way to get a ticket back to Vale.

Everything came out after that: the unexpected ferocity of the Promethean, the escape with Penny's help, the subsequent fight on the Bullhead. Ren took over after Pyrrha's voice started cracking a little describing the end of the fight.

Ozpin stayed silent throughout the entire story, only nodding at the end. "Penny Polendina, Victor Polendina's daughter. She's with you at this moment?"

"Yes Headmaster, though it's…it's complicated. I'll let her introduce herself." Pyrrha pointed the scroll at Penny's slouching body. The hologram appeared after a second, waving at the scroll.

"You're right." Ozpin stared at the sight before pursing his lips. "This is complicated."

…

The ocean's color lightened, going from black to dark blue to light blue. Ocean turned to sandy land, which in turn became grassy. The shadow of the Bullhead raced across the treetops. Pyrrha sat with her legs dangling out of the side of the Bullhead, staring into the distance.

Ren and Nora were in the back of the airship readying their weapons. Penny was back to her 'human' self and in the cockpit. The fact that she didn't need to breathe worked in her favor due to the…leaky…state of the cockpit.

Ozpin had informed them that Team RWBY was back in Vale helping evacuate citizens. They were assigned to assist them and then report back to Beacon. They could handle the Grimm, Pyrrha was sure of that; breaking the news while not breaking down was what daunted her.

Even now she couldn't believe Jaune was truly gone. The dangers of being a Huntress had been impressed upon her ever since she had started the path, and she had truly taken it to heart. But Jaune? He had been the anchor for their team, always confident, a great leader for the team.

Jaune had always been a constant at Beacon for her, ever since he had first met her before initiation. This notion had been tested, and consequently strengthened, every time Jaune had almost died. Initiation, the time Major Alpha Ursi had managed to ambush them on their second time camping in the woods, the time on the mountain in Atlas just to name a few.

She had become morbidly accustomed to Jaune getting hurt and coming back in perfect health; she was pretty sure most people at Beacon knew about this uncanny ability of his. Even when she saw his body falling towards the ocean, some part of her was sure that he would find some way to come back, smiling and downplaying the entire fight.

 _But the explosion…_ She shuddered. That had been the nail in the coffin for any hope she had. She didn't know what had caused it, but it was enough to shut the hopeful part of her mind right up. The bodies were nowhere to be seen after the flames faded, along with any notion Pyrrha may have had about Jaune's return.

The city limits flew by below them and with them came the distant sounds of fighting. The air grew heavy with the smell of smoke, the source becoming apparent as demolished, burning buildings came into view.

"We'll be landing near the highway soon. Get ready for action." Penny's voice was monotone. Ren and Nora stepped out of the back door as the Bullhead flew between buildings that were still standing in the downtown area.

The three remaining members of team JNPR leaped off the Bullhead as soon as they were close to the ground and landed on top of a three story store. The surrounding areas hadn't been overtly damaged, but there was no sign of any life.

The wind carried sounds of fighting from the West, a veritable beacon in the silence of their surroundings. The three took off on a sprint and leaped from building to building in the direction of the highway bridges where the noises were coming from. They had been told RWBY had already started fighting to secure civilians enough time to evacuate, and that their mission was to launch a rear attack to rout the Grimm.

They reached the highway and leaped onto it. Stealing their way from car to car, they could hear the individual shots and impacts of the fighting. Grimm were appearing from nearby alleys and leaping onto the bridge leading out of downtown.

Pyrrha waited for the command to attack before realizing that Ren and Nora was looking at her pointedly. She set her mouth and held three fingers up. She counted down as the surge of Grimm died down.

On zero, the three zig-zagged between the abandoned cars keeping the stragglers in sight. Pyrrha and Ren eliminated the closest Beowolves swiftly and silently before moving onwards. Nora planted grenades behind them as they went up the on ramp onto the bridge. Jaune had rigged them with a remote detonation feature in Atlas. This way, when another surge of Grimm occurred, they could scramble the ramp to reduce the throughput.

They reached the bridge proper to see the large sea of black bodies attempting to get past a blockade of cars in the middle of the road. Pyrrha nodded at Nora who smiled gleefully before pulling out her grenade launcher.

Pyrrha and Ren sprinted at the backs of the horde of Beowolves and Ursi, hacking the bodies apart into dark mist as explosives rained upon those out of reach of their blades. Ren leaped and spun through the teeming masses, emptying his gun multiple times. Pyrrha slashed and stabbed her way through the Grimm, leaving a trail of disassociating Grimm bodies behind.

Nora continued to rain down grenade after grenade, seeding chaos and confusion in the Grimm as they grew aware of the two-faced attack on their ranks. They grouped up and pushed, increasing their density around the two close-quarters fighters and slowing their progress.

Pyrrha grimaced as fluid from a particularly nasty wound on a Beowolf splashed her face. It was getting harder and harder to make meaningful headway through the suffocating mass of monsters, even with Nora's ordinance raining from above.

 _Thankfully there are no Major Grimm. This would be a nightmare to accomplish otherwise._

She had seen all sorts of higher-order Grimm during the flight in, ranging from Ultra Alpha Beowolves to pairs of King Taijitus. She was sure there were many others on their way in, but none had penetrated this far into the city yet.

Recognizing that the density of the enemies was growing too much, Pyrrha dropped a small bottle filled with a particular blend of Scorch, Shock, and Water Dust, along with powdered salts. The Scorch, Water, and salts would create a spray of hot electrolytic solution that would act as a conductor for the high voltage arcs generated by the Shock Crystal to penetrate skin.

Pyrrha hadn't quite understood the explanation, but Jaune had said that it would work well against a crowd of Grimm, which was perfect for her current situation. She used a Ursa's head as a springboard to launch herself into the air where she jumped off the Grimm gathered below to escape the effects of the bottle.

Leaping onto a lamppost, she activated the Dust in the bottle just like how Jaune had told her to. Grimm were thrown away from the epicenter as near boiling water scalded their unnatural skins, followed immediately by quick electrocution as the current passed through their tightly touching bodies.

Grimm stiffened and fell in a series of bright sparks. The smaller Beowolves even had their chests pop under the muscle spasms generated by the flow of electricity through their bodies. This type of experiment had been carried out years ago to prove that Grimm had internal organs and weren't just composed of corporeal mist.

The Grimm dispersed as the effects of the bottle halted, running past Ren and Nora. Nora shot a few more grenades before switching to its hammer form and smashing any of the dimmer Grimm who thought it was a good idea to get close to a hammer wielding Huntress.

Ren took care of a few defiant stragglers that still creeped around the mounds of bodies. The blockade was not visible past the miasma of the smoke coming off the Grimm corpses that lay on the bridge like heavy snow.

"This is Weiss Schnee, member of Team RWBY of Beacon Academy. Who are you?" The voice was muffled through the thick black fog, but the message was clear.

Pyrrha hopped off the lamppost and onto the body of a nearby Ursa. Ren and Nora were waiting for her at the blockade.

"Weiss! It's Pyrrha, with Nora and Ren. Ozpin sent us to help you get the civilians to safety."

Sounds of fighting could be heard from the other side, but faint, like they were at a distance.

"How can you prove you're you?" Weiss's voice was heavy with suspicion.

"Weiss?" Pyrrha looked at her teammates quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"How can we know you're not someone else pretending to be you guys?"

"If we weren't, why would we ask? We could just jump over."

"And we would attack you without question. Now, I will ask again, prove that you are actually Team JNPR."

"Err… We can answer a question that only we know the answer to?" Pyrrha was thoroughly confused with this sudden line of questioning.

"No, that won't work, we can't be sure." Weiss went silent for a moment. "Ok, how about this. Do you have any Dust?"

"How much?"

"A large crystal."

Pyrrha frowned. She didn't have any. She turned to Nora and Ren, both of whom shook their heads. Large crystals were hard to carry around, and the disadvantage their weight posed didn't make up for their power.

Pyrrha took her scroll out. The CCT hadn't fallen in the while since they had spoken with Ozpin, which was awesome. Pyrrha dialed the Bullhead using the route Penny had used to route the scroll's traffic through the Bullhead. The call was answered instantly.

"Yes Pyrrha? Is it time to begin evacuation?" Penny was ordered to park the Bullhead in a nearby location on standby.

"No, not yet. We need a large Dust crystal from the hold. Do we have any?" Pyrrha crossed her fingers.

"My search of the inventory of the ship is positive. What type shall I bring?"

"Weiss? What type do we need?"

"Any type at all. And if you guys are actually JNPR, do hurry up. It's getting..." Weiss yelled and a sound like shattering glass reverberated through the air. "A little hectic in here."

"Penny, did you get that?"

"Affirmative. ETA 30 seconds."

The call terminated and the scroll went dark. Pyrrha refolded it and put it back in its holder. Nora was chattering away idly at Ren who was watching the highway behind them for any sign of another attack. Fighting had done all three of them good; the adrenaline had refocused them and returned their mental states closer to how they had been before dawn.

A Bullhead swooped in low, buffeting the air and causing her hair to whip into her face. It stopped above the trio and opened its cargo door to reveal Penny holding a crate.

"There are plenty more of these in the cargo hold. Please do not hesitate in using any of these against the enemy." Penny released the crate which landed with a dull thud against the asphalt.

"Thank you!" Pyrrha called up at the Bullhead, who's doors were already closing. The blades whirred louder and the Bullhead flew away just as suddenly as it had arrived.

Ren crouched next to the crate and used his scroll to unlock the electronic lock on the clasp. It seemed their scrolls hadn't been removed from the Atlas Military whitelist as the lock opened without any trouble. The sunlight reflected and refracted through the transparent crystals, creating a shimmering pattern on Ren's face.

"Weiss! We have the crystals. What do you want us to do with it?"

"Remember when Jaune taught us how to release the energy of a crystal in one go? Do that, but into the air for both our sakes."

 _Of course I remember it. Jaune had almost burned down the target range while demonstrating with a Scorch crystal. A month's detention with Glynda…_ Pyrrha shuddered at the punishment Jaune had gotten.

Pyrrha had, truth be told, never had practiced much with Dust before Beacon. Her fighting skills and semblance were more than enough to beat any threat that came up, and she had focused on polishing those skills rather than learning new skills.

That had quickly changed after Ozpin had approached her about a very important mission. Most people think fairy tales were made up to entertain children and were nothing more. Ozpin disagreed. He had explained to Pyrrha that one of Remnant's most famous tales, the Tale of the Four Maidens, was based in reality.

She had been skeptical, but Ozpin had showed her ample proof in the form of a real life Maiden, hovering between life and death in a machine under Beacon. Ozpin had informed her that she was his choice to take the Maiden's powers should events take a turn for the worse. He had made her practice her skills in aura and Dust usage to ensure she could handle the Maiden's powers well.

 _I don't think Ozpin forsaw me using that training to prove to my friends I'm the real me._ The corners of Pyrrha's mouth turned upwards in a weak imitation of smile for a second before settling back into a neutral frown.

She remembered her training back at Beacon. She drew a deep breath and released it, her aura flaring around her. She could feel the Dust crystal in her hands both physically and mentally, the energy humming in an enticing way. She shaped her aura into loops and twisted them around the Ice Crystal, which had the least potential to harm them instantly.

The aura settled on the blue crystal's surface and started thickening. The blue color was slowly replaced by purple as Pyrrha continued winding her aura. She slathered the aura thick over the sides and one base, leaving the top faces bare to the world.

She checked over her work once, twice, thrice. She could not see not feel any part of the crystal facing her, which was good. Any leaks had the potential of doing serious harm to her. Satisfied she was safe, she raised it high and activated the crystal using the inner layers of aura.

The area around Pyrrha almost instantly became damp, then wet as the temperature of the air dropped quickly below the dew point. The water droplets on every surface around her started freezing. The metal of the cars in the blockage groaned as it contracted, shaking the entire pile dangerously.

There was nothing to do but hold the crystal tightly within her aura and limit the cooling effect to tolerable limits. Her eyelids felt heavy at the sudden expenditure of aura and she swayed in place. She closed her eyes and refocused herself, ignoring the cold and her own tiredness completely. The strain against her aura lessened as the crystal's effect wound down.

She dropped the crystal and let it shatter on the ground. She pulled out a pouch of Scorch Dust and used the residual aura around her to activate that in an effort to heat herself up. She could feel her skin freezing and decaying, only to immediately be replaced with new cells as her aura tried its best to heal her.

The heat from the Scorch Dust was meager, but it was like a bonfire in relation to the chill left behind by the Ice Crystal. Nora and Ren both approached her, their skin steaming in the intense chill.

"Are you happy with that Weiss?" A tinge of salt slipped into Pyrrha's voice despite her efforts. Being asked to prove your identity to a close friend, especially in such a painful manner, it didn't feel good.

"That definitely was what I was looking for. Alright, hop on over."

With an aura assisted leap, the three clambered onto the barricade. Directly below them huddled thirty or forty people, staring up in a mix of fear and relief. Weiss was ten feet away, using her semblance and Dust to keep Grimm away from the civilians. The rest of RWBY was dealing with the Grimm that were pouring over a barricade similar to the one JNPR stood on, but the other one had fared much worse.

"More Grimm!"

Pyrrha opened her mouth to stop Nora but she was already high in the air, jumping at the Grimm. She landed on top of a Beowolf that was trying to dislodge a 3-foot-long icicle from its throat. Her hammer unfurled and smashed the monster's head like a ripe watermelon. A pull of the trigger and she was in the air again, the explosion from the head of the hammer propelling her into the Grimm horde RWBY was fighting.

"Ren, go ahead." Pyrrha smiled at him. The two loved to fight together and it was fascinating to watch Ren's surgical and Nora's explosive styles complement each other. Pyrrha leaped down in front of the row of cowering civilians who stared dumbly at her.

"You…you're Pyrrha Nikos right?" A voice piped up shakily from the crowd. Pyrrha sighed quietly before turning to face them, her trademark confident smile plastered on her face.

"You would be correct."

The group smiled in relief. "Thank you so much Ms. Nikos for coming to save us!" A young boy beamed at her from his mother's arms. She walked closer to him and bent down.

"Well, I just got here. Team RWBY also deserve some of the credit, as do my teammates Ren and Nora. We're all going to get you out of here safe and sound, alright? Rescue shuttles will be here soon. And please, call me Pyrrha." She stepped away, waving at the crowd, before turning around and running to Weiss.

The highway in front of Weiss was strewn with Grimm bodies surrounded by puddles of water as the ice Weiss had shot at them melted in the morning sunlight. All the Grimm that had gotten past the front line fighters were now dead.

Weiss bent down, hands on knees, and took gulping breaths as aura exhaustion hit her hard.

"Weiss, you alright?" Pyrrha stood next to her and set a hand on her shoulder to support the swaying girl.

"I'm…fine." She managed to pant out. "Just...exhausted. I'll be fine…in a sec." Weiss pulled a small crystal out of a hidden compartment in her rapier and let her aura flow over it. The color returned to her cheeks as her aura refilled itself from the reserves in the crystals.

"Seems like the others have the situation well under control." Pyrrha was right. What had been a close fight to keep the hordes at bay was now a winning battle thanks to the five fighters in the fray.

"I'll call in the shuttles. Keep yours as an emergency escape route just in case something goes wrong." Weiss walked over to a small satchel and rummaged inside before pulling out a flare gun. She launched it and threw the spent shell aside.

"Are these all the civilians?" There had to have been more than thirty on the highway before when the Grimm attacked.

"There were others but we evacuated them." Weiss stepped in closer and lowered her voice. "We couldn't save all of them. A few of the bridge sections were unstable and collapsed before we could reach them. We managed to secure 3 of the interior sections. The others were either collapsed or there was no one left."

"How many Grimm were there?"

"Not as many as there are here. The numbers started to swell as we started the civilians, leading up to this." She gestured at the Grimm flowing through the holes and breaches in the wall. "Only Beowolves and Minor Ursi, but I think that higher Grimm will show up within the hour."

"That's true. How long do the shuttles usually take to get here?"

"Around a minute or so. We should be seeing them right now." She looked around before something struck her. "Speaking of not seeing things, I don't see Jaune. Where is he?"

 _There it is._

"He perished in battle." Pyrrha's voice was devoid of any emotion.

Weiss's eyes grew wide. "How? What? When?!"

"I do not think now is the proper time to explain. It is a long story and I can't do it justice right now. Please, don't press it."

Weiss nodded swiftly. They stood in awkward, uncomfortable silence for a bit before Weiss saw two Bullhead's flying in.

"There they are! Alright everyone, please get into orderly rows and line up near the edge. There is no threat from the Grimm so ignore them; we are taking care of it as you probably can see." Weiss and Pyrrha herded the group to the edges of the highway to clear space for the Bullheads.

The door of one opened and a man dropped out, the downdraft tousling his dark red hair. He raised a hand in greeting which the two girls responded in kind. The Bullheads touched the ground and the doors opened.

The man stopped a few feet from them. "This is the last batch, correct?" His voice was slow and deep. His eyes had a cruel, passionate glint in them that slightly unnerved Pyrrha, but she ignored the prickling of her skin. She noticed his hand twitching slightly on his sheath as he looked at Weiss, which was odd.

"And the biggest." Weiss held out her hand, but the man sneered distastefully at it. Weiss retrieved it, looking hurt and angered.

"There is no time for chit-chat. Due to the rapidity with which hospitals are filling up, and the wide variety of cases, human and Faunus evacuees have been asked to load into different airships."

"Are you sure? Human and Faunus anatomy is remarkably simil…" Pyrrha started.

"Orders and orders, Ms. Nikos. Not even you are above them." The man interrupted, his condescending expression deepening.

The two girls looked at each other doubtfully. The tension in the air thickened.

"If you say so, I don't see why not. Orders are orders indeed." Pyrrha decided immediately. Even if they were separated by their appearance, they still would be treated to the fullest right?

The man smiled a thin, tight smile which made Pyrrha even more uncomfortable. He walked to the gathered group of civilians and explained the situation to them. Most of them turned to look at Pyrrha and Weiss questioningly, recognizing the odd orders.

Pyrrha simply smiled and waved comfortingly at the unconvinced individuals. They smiled back and walked into the Bullhead they were told to board.

Pyrrha noticed that the man was making no motion to follow the passengers. "Aren't you going too?"

"I'm here to fight the enemy." He patted his sheath. The Bullhead doors closed and they took off, flying low over the city.

"Well, we're fine really. Our teammates have the Grimm under control, we don't need help. We're heading to Beacon anyways as our mission has finished." Weiss's tone was cold. The man simply smiled and gripped his sheath.

"Who said anything about fighting the Grimm, _Schnee?_ "

Pyrrha tackled Weiss aside just as the stranger's blade passed mere millimeters from Weiss's skin. Pyrrha held her shield above Weiss and herself, staring at the Faunus in front of her. She could see the black horns that were almost fully hidden in his dark red hair. His sword was back in his sheath, almost as if he had never attacked.

"You Hunters are all the same. Training and fighting, thinking that life is not going to get harder than your missions. 'The Grimm is the enemy'. All delusion. The real enemies," he reached into his black robe and pulled a white mask adorned with red designs across the eye slits. "aren't the monsters without, but the monsters inside every human."

 _White Fang._ Pyrrha finally understood his apparent disgust towards Weiss. But how had he known about their mission? Pyrrha kept her mouth shut and continued to stare at the masked man. She could see the Grimm horde getting thinner as her team continued to fight. If she could hold out for just a little longer…

"In some ways I am a Huntsman too, but one that knows the true enemy." His hand reached back into his robes and pulled out a detonator. Pyrrha's eyes widened in horror as she connected the dots.

"There never were any orders were there?" She spat the words out with as much loathing as she could.

"None at all." Down went the button.

Pyrrha closed her eyes, Weiss's muffled complaints drowned out by the sound of the Bullhead exploding in the distance.

 _Damn it! Damn it all! Why did we trust this piece of shit?!_ Pyrrha tightened her grip around her sword and shield. She tensed and leaped straight up, using the metal under the asphalt as a springboard with her semblance.

She spun and threw her shield at the man, no, _monster_ in front of her. He dodged to the right before striking impossibly fast at her. Pyrrha sensed the metal of his sword's handle moving through the air and met the blade with her own.

The power behind the strike surprised her. She was sent backwards into the barrier on the side of the bridge. She spun to the right as another strike cleaved in half the metal behind her ex-location.

She summoned her shield to her hand as she continued to dodge the very quick, very strong attacks sent her way. She had no idea what Weiss was doing; there was nothing to think about but sensing and avoiding each strike.

She maneuvered herself in between the White Fang aggressor and the rest of her team. He seemed to notice her strategy and rushed her bodily. She put her shield in front of her only to feel the man _run_ over her shield and her head as if she was a simple boulder in his path.

She spun around to see him running straight towards Blake. Pyrrha crouched and spun her sword into its rifle form and started shooting. The shots pinged off the man's back. He didn't even react.

"Weiss!"

"Keep shooting!"

A red glyph appeared in front of her gun's muzzle. Pyrrha kept firing, the residual Dust in the bullets reacting with the glyph and catching fire. This time, the man reacted.

He turned and bent his knees slightly, keeping one foot in front of another. He took his sword slightly out of his sheath and stood stock still. His aura started to envelope him and each bullet created ripples.

The sword started to glow red, the color mixing with his aura like oil in water. Pyrrha stopped shooting and held her shield up to cover her body. She had no doubt that the others had heard the fighting happening behind them, but she didn't want to distract them from the Grimm. The last thing they needed was to have a two fronted fight.

Air whooshed and ice crackled. Pyrrha peeked from around her shield to see a massive ice wall mere feet from her.

"Thank you!" Pyrrha waved at Weiss. The heiress was supporting herself against a lamppost and looked exhausted, which made sense after seeing the sheer mass of ice that had appeared in front of Pyrrha.

"Go!" Weiss made shooing motions. "I'll be fine." Pyrrha nodded and started thinking about what her new strategy was going to be as she ran around the wall of ice. She couldn't let him doing whatever he just had; his aura became too strong to hurt him at that point and it was a waste of ammunition.

 _If this ability of his is anything like Yang's, it'll be really hard to hit him._ Pyrrha knew how hard it was to defeat Yang when her full semblance decided to kick in. She had to strike him hard, fast, and not let up as to keep him from retaliating.

Pyrrha held her shield up and sprinted around the side of the wall. The red haired man was close to Blake now who was completely focused on her own fighting. Pyrrha analyzed the distances, using her warrior's instincts to find the best course of action.

He was way too close to Blake for Pyrrha to intercept him in time. She pressed a button on her sword and threw it as hard as she could straight forward. The sword transformed, a point unfolding from inside the hilt and extending into a sharp tip.

The javelin flew past the man and passed inches from Blake to skewer an Ursa straight through. Blake whirled around instinctively. Her eyes landed on the stranger. A moment passed before her eyes widened and she jumped away, leaving behind one of her shadow clones behind her.

She made her way through the crowd of Grimm, cutting them down as fast as possible to get away. Yang seemed to have noticed Blake breaking and running as she too disengaged from the Grimm to figure out what the hell was going on.

Her eyes settled on the man chasing Blake leisurely, Grimm ignoring him in favor of the more emotional, younger Hunters. A Beowolf decided to try his luck at attacking the newcomer but the sudden lack of his lower half did wonders to deter him.

She looked at Pyrrha questioningly who nodded as she summoned her javelin back into her hand. Yang punched a Ursa's throat in, caved a Beowolf's skull in with her feet, and started making her way through the Grimm just as Blake had, but with a little less finesse. Yang's hair flared yellow with each hit, her eyes growing redder as she got closed to Blake.

Pyrrha stepped into the role Blake and Yang were occupying, holding back the Grimm. The flow had lowered dramatically, leaving one a couple hundred Grimm between them and the wall. She kept glancing back at Blake and Yang just in case.

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Blake stood in the open, her expression contorted with fear, confusion, and hate. Yang approached the man from behind. Her gauntlets ejected any spent shells and loaded new ones in from the pouches on her belt.

"Adam, why are you here?" Blake took miniscule steps away from this 'Adam' as he continued sauntering towards her casually, back erect and hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"We both know why I'm here, dearest Blake." Yang flinched as the man moved faster than she had ever seen. Blake dodged to the side, her shadow clone disappearing as soon as it was summoned into existence.

"Adam, please! Humans aren't all monsters like you think they are!" Blake kept circling Adam who had stopped and followed her with his head.

"Is that what they have indoctrinated you with after you left me? After you betrayed me on our biggest mission?" His voice grew venomous.

Blake subtly shook her head at Yang as the brawler got closer. Yang slowed to a halt and stood ready to move in case something should happen. This guy was obviously someone important from Blake's past and wanted to kill humans. It wasn't hard to make the connection with the White Fang.

"Both of us know why I left you that day Adam."

"And what is that reason, my love?"

Yang's eyes widened. _My love?_

"That day, I saw what you were becoming. I joined the White Fang, _I fought and killed for them,_ not because I hated humans, but because I hated the racism. That's what the White Fang stood for, that's what we stood for!"

"Are you saying my methods are not helping end the discrimination against Faunuskind? Are you really so blind Blake? Have you swallowed these lies your 'friends' have been feeding you?"

"Adam…why are you here? There are Grimm here killing both humans and Faunus, they are the real enemy!"

"Isn't that what I did? I saved Faunus lives but punished the humans. That is what the White Fang does, Blake dear."

"Stop calling me that! Anything we had stopped long before that day."

Adam visibly stiffened. Yang readied herself and jumped at his back as his hands started tightening around the hilt of his weapon. With a fluid motion, he whirled around and slashed at Yang, who managed to block the blow with her gauntlets. The force sent her flying over him and landing behind Blake, surrounded by cracked asphalt.

 **Blake Belladonna**

"Attacking someone from behind when they are not being aggressive; what a human thing to do." Adam bent his knees slightly and thumbed his hilt. The red markings on his mask started glowing.

Blake paled as she realized his intentions. She sprinted at Adam, slid into his legs, and dodged to right, leaving a shadow clone laced with Ice Dust behind. Adam lashed out prematurely, his sword cleaving through the clone. The clone turned to ice within milliseconds and left the sword embedded in a lifelike ice sculpture of Blake.

"There is truly no more hope for you anymore Blake. I thought we could come to an understanding and help you dedicate yourself to the cause once more; I was wrong." Adam heaved and separated the head off the body in a spray of water. "There are forces at work not even you can imagine. The White Fang is more powerful than ever, the new dawn for Faunuskind approaches!"

 _The White Fang are more powerful than ever? How? They're a threat to every organization in Remnant; who supports them?_

"It is too bad you decided to throw your lot in with the Hunters and humans." Adam spun a dial on his sword and slashed in Yang's direction. Yang tried to dodge the swipe but the entire pavement under her feet exploded.

"Yang!" Blake tried to run to Yang but a streak of fire appeared in her path. She skidded to a halt before the raging inferno.

"You will die with the rest of your friends here Blake. I think I shall kill you last, just to teach you a lesson."

Adam readied to swipe again, but suddenly paused. Blake followed his gaze, not fearing a trap. That simply was not Adam's style. He was staring in Beacon's direction and at first Blake could see nothing in the bright sky.

Then suddenly, she saw it. What she had thought was just a cloud was something more. It was long, thin, and _vertical_. It was growing at a rapid pace and billowing. The sunlight glinted off something metallic at the very top, which seemed to be creating the cloud she saw.

It grew slightly bigger as each second passed, the cloud curving over the city. She could see the structure with greater clarity now. It looked like a giant white spear, but with a thick base that narrowed in stages until it reached the tip where a black cone made up the tip. The cloud it created was at least three times its width.

Her Faunus-enhanced eyesight noticed several somethings drop off the side of the thing tearing through the air. They separated, looking like scattered grains of sand against the bright sky.

Adam seemed just as lost. He stayed silent as he watched the airship pass above them, climbing higher and higher with each second. One of the specks that had detached from the flying object veered in their direction while the others moved in other directions.

Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Adam all stared as the shape descended. Atlas had been working on experimental aircraft for years now, everyone knew that. But this was something different. The cloud the oddly shaped aircraft left behind was breathtaking, the sheer speed the craft ascended into the sky was mind boggling. And it had launched from Beacon, oddly enough.

Her mind instantly went to Jaune. If anyone was capable of doing something of this kind, it was Jaune. She hadn't seen him in the battle, which only strengthened her conviction the genius leader of JNPR was behind this. The speck that had been approaching their location closer, and Blake could discern the humanoid shape of the falling object.

She tore her gaze away from the falling humanoid to scan the highway. The Grimm were mostly mopped up, with Pyrrha and Ren cleaning up the remnants of the Grimm forces. Nora and Ruby had missed the mysterious craft but noticed the falling body.

The sunlight glinted off the chestplate and helmet the figure wore. The smaller armor pieces twinkled slightly as the figure rotated slightly during its descent. Adam moved suddenly, causing everyone in the fight to scramble into defensive positions. However, this wasn't an attack, this was a defensive stance. The figure slammed into Adam with a deafening crash.

Asphalt cracked, eardrums burst and healed, and dust flew into the air. Blake was tossed backwards off the bridge, but her catlike reflexes allowed her to react quickly. She created a shadow clone underneath her and used it as a springboard to launch herself up. She tossed her gun-blade and hooked it onto the railing, using the ribbon to swing herself back onto the bridge.

Her friends had not fared any better than she had. Everyone had been sent flying by the shockwave the impact had created. Larger Grimm had been smashed against the blockade while the smaller Beowolves had been outright killed.

Red light cut through the suffocating Dust and silhouetted two figures. The first was Adam who was on a knee, holding his sword between him and the other figure on top of him. The newcomer was crouching on the blade itself, gripping it tightly.

Blake couldn't believe what she was seeing; the sight was too unreal. Adam's blade absorbed any attacks that struck it, and he used that power to strengthen his attacks. But this guy, who fell from higher than any Bullhead had flown, had landed straight onto the blade with astonishing accuracy and was now holding onto the blade itself. She had seen the blade tear through Aura and flesh like tissue paper when it was uncharged, yet it didn't seem to be doing anything to the newcomer.

 _Who the hell is this?_

 **Adam Taurus**

 _Who the hell is this?_ Adam's mind whirled with the same questions that plagued Blake. He could see his dumbstruck expression behind the mask reflected in the silver helmet the figure wore.

"Nice blade, by the way. Did you collect it in all the colors or was only red available?"

Adam knew that his blade had absorbed most of the energy, or otherwise both he and the armored figure on top of the blade would be smears on the ground. He could feel the energy swirling in his blade, but for the first time there was something blocking it.

He slammed his mental probes into the barrier in an attempt to get at the energy, but it didn't give at all. He was about to try again when the figure started _laughing_.

"You know? This is pretty goddamn ridiculous isn't it? The entire thing, you, me, this entire war. What a waste of time and effort to satisfy our petty goals."

"What?!" Adam had never felt so confused before in his life.

"Never mind that. Now I don't care how strongly you feel about anything, but a little birdie informed me you intended to hurt these wonderful ladies here."

Adam felt the temperature drop. The figure's each word dripped with menace. He desperately retried to get into the energy the blade contained. His blade was a core part of his fighting style and without it he would just be a talented swordsman.

"Heh, Aura. Don't even get me started on the bloodshed thanks to that thing. Seriously, it's ridiculous! Who knew wanting to help the little guy would lead to a full scale war?"

Adam opened his mouth but the man kept talking.

"And now I have to fight this goddamn fight just to make sure the universe doesn't unravel. But what do I see? A little shit who thinks he can hurt my friends to satisfy his own psychopathic urges."

"What are you talking about? How do you know me?"

"As I said, a little birdie told me. Well, a larger than average bird, but a bird nonetheless. Now, both of us know what's in that sword, and I think we both know it's just _itching_ to get rid of the energy.

So where does that leave us? I let go of this sword, the energy consumes me, I die. I keep a hold of it, we can stay in this position with the mildly homoerotic undertones, which ain't good any way you cut it. So we need another option. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Answer me! Who are you? If you think you can beat me without a fight, you are sorely mistaken. The entire White Fang now answers to me, Adam Taur…"

"Yeah, yeah I literally couldn't care less. I'm going to count to three before letting go. What you do from there is your choice. 3. 2. 1."

The figure let go and dropped to the ground. His mirrored visor stared at him emotionally, his entire stance casual as could be. Adam felt the blood roaring in his ears as he put the blade back into its sheath. He had come here to humiliate and kill Huntsmen, and he had almost reached that goal. But this patronizing _prick_ had ruined it all with his over-the-top entrance and the humiliation he heaped upon Adam.

The energy inside the blade was far greater than ever before and Adam let his aura merge with it. It was time to show this man what Adam was capable of. He concentrated the forces inside the blade into a point with his aura. His world turned black and red as his blade cut into the man's chest, only to return to its normal state as the man grabbed the blade with a free hand.

The blade had cut through the figure's shoulder and gotten to near his ribs when the man had stopped it with his bare hands.

 _WHAT?!_

"The thing with aura enhanced attacks is that aura is a two-way street. You can always find the source of the aura given enough skill, and boy, do I have skill. So now we see a problem here. The blade wants to get rid of the energy, but I have bottled it up in your blade which is currently in my body. The energy inside has been modified with your aura, so you are part of this even if you let go of the hilt."

Adam stared dumbfounded as the man spoke about controlling aura like he had it on a leash. Even the most advanced aura users Adam had met didn't speak in such certain terms about these advanced techniques.

"What do you think will happen if I let go of the aural block I put on the blade? Why don't we find out?" The man sounded cheerful, like he was proposing a picnic. Adam felt pain lance through his bodies as the energy in his sword rebounded upon him.

He felt it tear through his body like wildfire, reaching every corner of his body in seconds. He tried to keep his composure but failed when his mind felt the flames licking at it. He howled and fell to the ground, trying to vent the rebounding energy back out.

He could still see the man standing in his position, the blade embedded deep in his chest. Flames erupted from the wound and started consuming the left side of his body. Adam gasped as the fire in him burn brighter.

His skin started splitting and peeling. The fat under the skin started to melt and he could see his hands start to lose their shape. His nerves were beyond fried, and his world consisted of nothing but a deep imprint of pain and nothing more.

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

Pyrrha was frozen in horror as she watched the charred corpse of the armored stranger collapse onto the black haired man's body, turning them both into an impromptu pyre.

That wasn't all that shocked her, however. She recognized the armor the figure wore, it was very similar to the kind Jaune wore, and what the Promethean had worn when he attacked them back in Atlas.

She looked at Ren and Nora, the looks in their eyes confirming her suspicion. It was the same type of armor, which meant that either the Prometheans had decided to help them, or it was someone who was close enough to Jaune to get access to his armor and come to rescue the team, sacrificing himself in the process. Not likely. _Then who was he?_

A black feathered bird cocked its head as it stared at the scene. Not one of the fighters on the highway had noticed that it hadn't moved an inch throughout the fight, even when the figure had fallen from the sky. While everyone's attention was occupied by the slowly dying fire, the bird leaped off the lamppost and started flying towards Beacon.

* * *

AN: Yeah this chapter is a little graphic, but whatever. Any questions you guys have probably will be answered in the next chapter, so stay tuned!

What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!


	25. Revival

**Jaune Arc**

"I choose Option 3"

The world went white, the walls of the library collapsing on themselves with the books fading into nothingness. The Promethean was ripped apart, absolute fury and shock barely visible on his face before it disappeared in the bright white light.

Everything around Jaune faded away, all sounds, feeling, even emotion. He floated in the numb white warmth blissfully. His thoughts were fading, dissolving and mixing with the emptiness around him.

His memories had started to go now; he forgot his mother's face, the sound of his dad's voice, the giggling of his sisters whenever they dressed him up in dresses. He started panicking, trying to retain those memories any way he could.

His attempts were fruitless like sifting water with a sieve. His surroundings started getting darker the harder he fought to hold on. He had lost his body, his aura, his conscious thoughts, he couldn't bear to part with his memories this quickly. His mind thrashed in agony as his surroundings went from white to grey.

Something echoes around him and the pain disappeared. His mind stopped leaking, each remaining memory properly locked in place by fortified mental bonds. The darkness started taking on a texture and form, creating lines and perspective.

Feeling returned first. A cool breeze played across his skin, soft padding pressing into him from behind. Smell came next. Luxurious and rich smells of nature overwhelmed at first, but grew extremely pleasant. He could almost taste each individual smell on the breeze, but there was something stronger near him.

The world took on shape, and sight returned to him. A rich rainforest spread out under him to the horizon, strange trees and plants of all shapes and sizes immediately noticed by his eyes. His vision felt sharper, more robust, but slightly nauseating. There was something off about everything. He tilted his head, for he had a body now, and almost jumped in surprise.

His vision wasn't merely sight based alone, there was another layer underneath. Colors flowed through the trunks of the trees, flitted around the canopy in groups of dots, and pulsed in the ground itself.

Even the chair he was sitting on pulsed with the same light that underlay the world. Its texture was wooden and looked to be carved out of a single piece, but to his secondary vision, it was solid white, much like his aura.

He shifted in the chair and it molded itself to the new position while still providing constant support. It was the most comfortable chair he had ever sat on, with just enough pressure to make him aware of its presence.

The legs of the chair were part of the platform that the chair sat on. There were no walls anywhere to be seen.

 _Is this what happens after death? This beats my theory honestly. This is great!_

The horizon grew lighter as a bright orb started rising over the treetops in distance. It's light blinded Jaune but his eyes quickly adapted to this second sun's brightness.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Jaune's head whirled to the side where he saw a woman sitting in a chair next to his. It looked identical to his, but it was completely black to his secondary sight. Her voice was the same as the woman who had shown him the visions in Atlas. But it wasn't adversarial or mean, but smooth, pleasant, and downright affectionate.

Her face stared peacefully out into the distance, the sunlight twinkling in her eyes. Jaune continued to stare at her, a strange feeling bubbling in his chest. Her head turned towards him and he lost himself inside her light red eyes. For the first time he understood what people meant by 'truly mesmerizing eyes'.

"Are you done staring?" Her mouth curled in a small smile as Jaune attempted to stammer out an apology. She laughed and waved, causing Jaune to smile too.

"So, uh, hey, I'm Jaune. I don't want to be rude, but what exactly is this place?"

Her smile dropped and she looked out into the distance. "I think I have outdone myself this time. The view is beautiful."

Jaune continued to look at her, waiting for her to start talking.

"It's a long story and I wished to not meet so soon, but recent events have forced my hand." She looked down at her hands, which were playing with the red hem on her black dress. It was a simple thing, plain and modest. "I'll explain everything in due time."

"Alright, I can wait for that, but can you at least explain what happened back in…well, in the real world?"

"Your final opponent on Remnant was an ancient being whose true name has been lost to entropy. He was a formidable warrior and tactician, but he fell to the same vice that countless individuals have fallen to over the ages: jealousy.

He was jealous of another, one very close to him whose success slow ate into him over millions of years and eroded away the friendship they had fostered. This led to bitterness, betrayal, and eventually war."

"War? On Remnant? How long ago was this?"

"Yes, no, and billions of years ago."

Jaune gaped at the answer. He thought he had misheard the time scales of which the individual had bittered. _Billions of years? How long did these beings live?_

"Where did it happen then? What was the scale? What happened?" Jaune was eager to know as much as he could about this.

"Patience, please." Her voice grew sharper.

Jaune shut his mouth. The tone booked no argument and he had none.

"The war was very one-sided number wise. Our kind had mastered energy, entropy, gravity, and space, but there was one thing we could not do. Overcome the basic concepts of the natural form. Any attempt at improving our bodies using technology resulted in corruption and disaster. We had to rely on machines and artificial means to do anything beyond the physical.

Our lives grew naturally longer, but try as we might, we could not live in our prime for most of it. We grew old, our minds grew dull, and we withered away over millennia. Countless technologies were tested and always resulted in premature and violent death. One time the patients mutated so heavily and multiplied so quickly, we had to destroy the entire planet. Billions of lives lost, countless resources down the drain, and a blot on the history of science.

Then one day, a man announced that he had found the solution to it all! A field that is attached to each individual and acts in both defensive and medical capacities? It was too good to be true."

"Aura. It was created?" Jaune wasn't as surprised as he thought he would have been, though it did throw a wrench in his theory that the humans on Earth just hadn't unlocked theirs yet.

"Indeed it was. He bestowed this aura upon all, and coupled with the wonderful Dust, ushered in a golden age of near immortality and progress. Of course, there were countless attempts are explaining and reverse-engineering this physics-breaking technology, but none achieved satisfactory results."

"You mean to say, even after billions of years of attempts there was no way to replicating or understanding this?"

"None at all. The only one who understood this to any degree of mastery was the creator himself, the Aurawielder."

Jaune's mind went straight past hyperdrive and into ultradrive. _The Aurawielder was what he called me down in that alternate space under the SDC mine! What the f…_

"I can see you understand the crux of the matter. The Aurawielder was you as you are here right now; not Jaune, but your 'soul', which is the closest this crude language can get."

"But how? How did that man become me? You said there was a war."

"Indeed. You became a legendary figure, the 'mad scientist' alone in his laboratory, better than us mere creatures. The masses envied you for your talents and abilities, rather than thanking you for the gift of aura. Only those closest to you knew the truth about you and your ways, and you were happy in their company and they in yours.

That was, and I hate to be so cliché, but your darkest secret came out. The true drawbacks to the miracle of aura was leaked to the public. The backlash was fierce, and you were soon on the run from every authority in the galaxy, hopping from star system to star system, using pocket dimensions as makeshift hideouts and laboratories."

"Wait, hold up. What was the drawback to aura that caused this severe of a response?"

"Darkness, malicious intent, and hatred given form. The Creatures of Grimm."

"The Grimm are caused by aura?!" If's Jaune's mind had been attached to a turbine, he could power half the Earth by now.

"The laws of physics in action. The conservation of energy is a cruel mistress. Energy of all forms in created out of nowhere in the form of aura. Where does this energy come from? The answer was _negative energy._ You know about pair production: how light can spontaneously produce a particle and antiparticle near a nucleus. The same concept applies here."

"You're saying that the energy that is created in the usage of aura causes the spontaneous production of 'anti-energy' elsewhere?"

"That was the leading theory, yes. The Aurawielder had managed to control the production of this byproduct and spread it out across space in both the main and pocket dimensions. The result was that everyone had a weaker aura than he did and that there were unstable pocket universes filled entirely with negative energy.

When the authorities raided his home planet, they disturbed the delicate balance and caused these pockets of space-time to unravel and release their contents to the main universe. The planet and its entire solar system was sealed off in quarantine, soaked with Grimm, aura, and bio samples from experiments. You are quite familiar with this remnant of your former glory."

"Remnant…it was my laboratory before everything went wrong?"

"Exactly. Your sentient creatures managed to escape the tainted lab and take over the land, the most prominent being aura-infused hairless bipedals."

"You're telling me I created fu**ing humans?" Jaune's self-restraint snapped. "That is beyond crazy, beyond ludicrous, straight into territory unexplored by dictionaries. How could I create humans?!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You merely augmented lesser sentient life with aura and experimented on them. But you did create a subset of humankind: the Faunus race."

Jaune blinked. " _Bloody_ hell. Alright, moving past that bombshell. The escaped lab animals populated the Earth, discovered the aura that I undoubtedly implanted in them, and started building a civilization despite the pressing threat of the Grimm?"

"A fight that is coming to head now. The Grimm threat has been getting smarter recently, their attacks more cunning and coordinated, the kind of coordination that implies conscious thought."

"A central intelligence?"

"Precisely, but we shall get to that later. There is much to cover but not enough time to cover all of it. With your lab destroyed, you were on the run, successfully managing to avoid capture while continuing your attempts to make aura more efficient and less dangerous.

However, this was where the betrayal came in. Your friend had been coordinating the raids on your hideouts for millions of years. He thought you deserved worse than death for the release of Grimm on the world without warning the world. He told himself that he was in the right and that his betrayal was for the best.

His motivation, like all things, was corrupted over time. Jealousy clouded his mind and all he could see was how much more powerful you were and how unfair it was. He didn't see the burden on you, or what you had to sacrifice to get the power that you possessed. Aura became a cheap, simplistic tool in his eyes."

"That explains a lot actually." Jaune steepled his hands and stared out at the view in front of him, the bits and pieces of information he had falling into place. "So in one final act of betrayal he outed my hideouts to the authorities?"

The woman nodded, a faraway look in her eyes. "They struck swiftly. It was utter chaos, your defensive systems holding them at bay for mere moments. All the guns, traps, bombs, and barriers were just enough for you to prepare your final defense: you."

"Me?"

"Your _Prometheus_ plan wasn't an original idea, you copied yourself across space and time."

"Clones." Jaune's eyes widened in revelation as the final pieces clicked.

"War. All-out war that spanned hundreds of millions of years more and caused havoc on scales unimaginable. With aura and your control over it, you effectively were each of the clones at the same time, controlling them all. Killing one didn't mean anything. Hundreds of planets destroyed during the war, thousands more when the Grimm joined the fray.

You managed to capture your treacherous friend in a surprise attack on a military planet and lock him off in a pocket dimension. Your forgiving nature however got the best of you, making you give him some leeway in his shackles inside the prison. He used those privileges to create the situation to lure you into letting him free."

Jaune sat in silence and processed the information. His past self had used aura and clones to wage a war on the galactic scale against a vastly superior force. He had imprisoned his friend for betraying him for who knows how long.

"How did the war end?"

She sighed. "You ran out of resources, they overran your defenses and captured you. They stripped you of your aura and memories, and cast you into the void as a punishment. Through sheer luck you must have washed ashore on a planet inhabited by humans and were reborn."

"Earth. It was chance, all chance." Jaune pursed his lips. This story was the highest level of ridiculousness, but it clicked somewhere in his mind.

"Perhaps, but I cannot say for sure."

"Another question. When I first stumbled into Remnant, I touched this piece of red crystal. It was acting like a portal, sucking in everything around the room like a vacuum or a source of strong gravity. Do you know what that was?"

"I unfortunately do not know much about the world outside the Remnant pocket universe and I cannot help you there."

Jaune just nodded. They sat in silence for a moment before Jaune decided to ask the next question on his mind. "Do you think he died in the explosion down there?"

"I would think so, yes. He denounced aura and lost the ability to manipulate his own 'soul' and would not have left remnants of himself in the world. I think we have seen the last of him for sure."

"So is that why I remain? Because of the remnants of my aura dispersed among my clones?"

"That is how I managed to keep you here. Otherwise, the aura would have decayed within minutes. You must have felt your concept of self erode after your 'death'."

Jaune shuddered. Her words brought back the rush of horrible feelings that had filled him in the terrible, bland whiteness that had enveloped after the explosion. A question rose from the memories like a bubble. He turned his head to look her full in the face.

"I'm sorry, but how do you know all that you are telling me?" Jaune spoke slowly, careful to keep any hint of an accusation or doubt out of his tone. "It sounds like you were…"

"Right there beside you?"

Jaune nodded, happy that she hadn't taken offense and that she seemed to understand his query.

"That's because I was."

Jaune lacked the ability to be surprised any more. He just motioned for her to continue.

"I was captured shortly after you lost the war. I was there beside you at every step and was there with you for the execution. However, they took 'mercy' on me and kept me locked up until my early death in jail. However, against your wishes, I had stored some part of my aura in the lab as a backup, just in case something happened to me. Turns out it kept me anchored to Remnant with nothing to do but wait for you to arrive."

"Huh. I…I'm sorry." Jaune didn't know what to say, really.

"Don't be sorry." She looked at him sternly, fire in her eyes. "My life is over, but yours is not. You have managed to escape the void twice. You still have the Grimm threat to deal with on Remnant. Stop it before it overflows the limits of this dimension and spills into the real universe."

"Alright, but how? I could barely take on the weakened soul of my treacherous dog of a friend. How do you expect me to take on whatever is at the heart of the Grimm forces?"

"Your aura. It is your greatest strength. Do not hesitate to use it; the Grimm army is far too big for your tiny contribution to play any large part in increasing it. Here, bow your head. I still retain enough knowledge of aura to unlock more of your potential. You must do the rest on your own."

Jaune felt her hand on his head, but it wasn't a physical sensation. It felt like she was touching something inside his head, inside his brain. A buzzing sensation started in his chest and expanded outward, pulses of white exploding in his vision.

"Fight well, my love."

The forest fell away from him as his sight whitened and his other senses died. He felt himself adrift in the sea of whiteness, but it was different this time. There was no sense of panic, no sense of loss. He felt a strong sense of duty, of conviction. There was no way he would let his friends down a second time.

The whiteness darkened, leaving only a white blob in the center. Jaune focused on it and he zoomed towards it. As it got bigger, Jaune realized that it wasn't just one dot, but a cluster of dots that were so close together as to appear as a single unit.

He noticed smaller colorful dots swarming around the central white dots, but unlike the white dots, these were covered in some sort of grimy darkness. The white dots filled his vision and made everything all white yet again.

A pulse of electricity travelled through him and he jolted upright. His head smacked into something hard, but at the same time, didn't. He felt blinded by bright lights, but at the same time, didn't.

There were a million contradictory smells and sensations that assaulted him from all around. He was both lying down and standing up, in air and in liquid, clothed and naked. He focused on the source of sensations that made him the most comfortable: lying down, in darkness, and in air.

He sat up and groaned as nausea hit him over the head like a brick. A few deep breaths until he didn't feel like passing back into the white void and he was as good as new. He was sitting on what felt like a metal surface but he couldn't make out any details in the dark.

He had a hospital gown on him that barely covered his private areas and didn't retain any heat, causing goosebumps to sprout all over his arms and legs. The only source of light came from the edges of a door seven feet away from the foot of his bed. He swung his legs off the bed and walked on unsteady legs to the doorway. He groped the smooth metal of the door for a few moments before finding the doorknob.

He turned it and stumbled into a clean, brightly lit room. He looked up just in time to see a flash of white and hear a squeal and then he was on the floor.

His head pounded as the person who he had crashed into continued to scream. Jaune raised his hand and waved it around, trying to get it to stop. It worked, in a way, as the person turned and ran out of the room. Jaune pushed himself up off the floor into a kneeling position and took his first look around.

The first fact immediately visible to him was that he was back in a hospital. A desk was a few feet to his right, and a door a few feet to his left. The person he had ran into was probably entering or leaving when Jaune had emerged.

"HALT YOUR MOVEMENT!" A soldier had stepped into the doorway of the room, rifle aimed right at Jaune. "FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN LETHAL FORCE."

Jaune just raised his arms and continued kneeling. The soldier walked over to him and gave him a once over. He mumbled something into the mic on his lapel and two other soldiers walked into the room the same way the first had, guns drawn and aimed.

A bag was put over Jaune's head and his hands were tied behind his back. The soldiers dragged him through hallways of different brightness and lengths. He could've walked, but he was too tired to do anything but go along. The soldiers looked Valean and Jaune had a sneaking suspicion about where they were.

Cool tiling gave way to a carpet and he felt the room start ascending. _An elevator, which means that we're going to…_

The bag was taken off his head and he was pushed to his knees in front of a familiar desk, with a familiar spectacled man sitting behind it. _Yeah, that confirms it._

"Jaune Arc. You look quite well for a dead man." Ozpin waved his hand and dismissed the two soldiers who had 'escorted' Jaune up to Ozpin's office.

"I've felt better. No idea how I look, but thanks." Jaune waited for Ozpin to say something more, but the headmaster tented his arms and rested his head on his folded hands. "Uh, Professor, can I sit down? This position is pretty uncomfortable."

"No Jaune, not yet. There are far more important matters we need to clear up beforehand." Ozpin turned to his computer and started typing. "I'm sure you know about the Grimm attack on Vale."

Jaune nodded. "Last I heard, they were at the walls." He shuffled around a little to get more comfortable.

"They are much further in by now, but their progress has been slowed by the bravery of our Hunters, police, and army. However, there is a threat that is far greater than any one Grimm that is possibly preparing an attack on this city."

"What's the threat?" _Someone else I pissed off in my past life? Given how difficult the last guy was even in a weakened form, I don't want to meet this one._

Ozpin turned his monitor towards Jaune. His blood chilled as he recognized the location: the inner, more secret area of his lab that he installed in the cave system under Beacon. It wasn't much, but it was somewhere to store things that couldn't be risked storing in Beacon.

There were pods upon pods attached to the rocky walls, each filled with liquid and a growing human body that drew from the aura crystal embedded in the side.

"Care to explain this Jaune?" Ozpin's voice was neutral, controlled, and far more dangerous than any amount of anger.

Jaune moistened his lips while structuring his thoughts. He could've explained keeping a clone or two as an experiment of sorts. But Ozpin had dug into his deepest secrets, and it was time for the entire truth to be out.

"Professor, I know it sounds kinda crazy but…" Jaune began to speak quietly and steadily, explaining how he had first read about the Color War experiments and started experimenting with his own aura. He explained how he developed the clones and the systems necessary for their growth and survival.

Ozpin stayed silent to the end of the explanation about the clones and their adventures. Jaune's voice gave way to silence. Ozpin turned his chair and stared out at the burning city, where smoke and fire dominated the skyline.

"So you simply transferred your soul to a clone body?" Ozpin finally broke the silence. His voice was as calm and steady as always.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Can you go into more detail about who attacked you on the airship?"

Jaune grimaced. "I don't know. He singled me out, but didn't really explain why." _Not technically a lie…_

"Hmm." Ozpin spun around and tapped a button on his keyboard, causing the shackles on Jaune's hand to spring open. "My apologies for the rough treatment, but we have reason to believe that the aforementioned threat can disguise itself. I wished to take no chances, especially with your perceived resurrection. Please, take a seat."

Jaune took the chair Ozpin motioned at, rubbing his sore wrists. "Are all of the developed clones in the morgue in the hospital or are there more elsewhere?" His mind was already formulating a plan on countering the Grimm threat, especially after regaining access to his lab.

"Only some of them were moved to the morgue. The rest of your lab is exactly how you left it, for criminal investigation purposes. Though with the current state of affairs, I do not expect one to take place anytime soon."

Jaune grinned. "Awesome. So, what's this new enemy that you were talking about?"

"We don't know much about it to be perfectly honest. It is either an extremely ancient and adaptive form of Grimm or some sort of lifeform we have never seen before." Ozpin paused a second. "I have heard stories about it and reviewed information files on it from all sorts of sources and they agree on one thing: it is a master of disguise and manipulation, taking on many different forms to lure prey.

"There hadn't been a confirmed sighting for many years now; the last one was well before the Color Wars. From what has been recorded, there is no way to tell where it will pop up next. The most common speculation has been that it has burrows far underground that it retreats into when it senses overwhelming opposition. For that reason, it has been called The Deep in such texts."

Jaune blinked, taken aback with the scope of the problem. "That sounds pretty dangerous. It can pop up anywhere without warning?"

"As far as we know, yes. A nest is spawned underground, and it starts accumulating biomass. Overtime, it becomes larger and larger and starts to extend its reach outwards. It has been known to imitate everything from the smallest fly to a full-fledged Hunter."

"What stage is the infection in right now? Who found it?" Jaune was way past the point of being surprised anymore; the revelations hurled his way in the last day had been too much. He just wanted stuff to go back to normal (or what counted as normal in Beacon) as soon as possible.

"Team RWBY encountered it in Mountain Glenn and Doctor Oobleck stayed behind to fight it."

"Wow, that's sobering." Jaune ran a hand across his face. "It's a good thing that it anchored itself in Mountain Glenn, then. Is there a chance that Doctor Oobleck can defeat it?"

"There is, but we do not have the liberty of waiting. Grimm are marching on Beacon and I fear that their attack is more coordinated and direct that any other in the past."

"A central intelligence, but we can't deal with that right now."

"Doing some extracurricular reading of Grimm Theory? Dry subject, but I digress. You are right, our priority is evacuating as many civilians as we can, which is currently almost over. Beacon is the next priority and must not fall. It is our only hope of having a fighting chance against the masses of Grimm and their origin."

"I see. I have a plan, but it will require the utmost coordination and focus. Is Professor Goodwitch available?"

Ozpin looked at him curiously. "Whatever your plan is, you'll have to make do with Beacon's supplies and yourself. All the staff are busy with coordinating the city's defenses."

"Understood, Headmaster." Something struck him. "Sorry but if I may be so bold, you seem to be taking my whole 'multiple bodies' thing quite well."

Ozpin smiled his small, mysterious smile. "Give me a little more credit Jaune, I am the Headmaster of Beacon. Knowing what is happening in my school is the least of my responsibilities."

Jaune looked at him quizzically. "You _knew_ I was doing all this?"

"Not exactly, but I had my suspicions about such a thing. It was lower on my list of plausible explanations, but I anticipated such a thing. Hence the retrieval and storage of the bodies in your lab."

Jaune nodded, the explanation satisfying him. He opened his mouth to start explaining his plan but Ozpin stopped him with a hand.

"I trust you to do the best thing for you, your team, and this city. I fear if you start explaining your plan, we may be here for a while and I cannot afford that much time. Good luck Jaune, you may leave."

Jaune got up awkwardly and took the elevator down. The meeting had been less 'What the actual hell, Jaune' and more 'This is completely normal', contrary to his expectations. Ozpin had taken Jaune's clones incredibly well and had not dwelled on them or his upcoming plan. Jaune smiled at the permission Ozpin had given him; it was basically a moral blank check that let Jaune do pretty much anything if he could prove it was for the defense of the city. He sent a quick command over to Alfred, chuckled at the response, and continued on his way.

 _I hope Ozpin doesn't mind a 60% chance of the entire research wing of the school going up in flames…_

Jaune hurried into his lab, which was both familiar and different at the same time. He could tell people had rummaged through some of the contents and it disturbed Jaune in a weird way. He shrugged off the feeling and walked from his lab to the shared warehouse, keeping its main doors open. All the different labs kept their large projects in here, from experimental forms or Dust to more efficient crops. The four dozen shelves covered in weapon prototypes alone would have sent Ruby into a happiness-induced coma.

He walked past all the other projects to his own section, where a few dozen-odd foot long metal tubes of varying thickness lay piled in a corner. Jaune took deep breaths as he walked to his Dust cabinet and pulled out all the Dust required for the mission.

Flame, Scorch, Shock, Ice, Gravity, Wind, Aura. He lay them out onto a desk, keeping two Wind crystals in his hand. He drew from both the Aura crystals and his own considerable pool and channeled the energy into the Wind crystals. He swept his hand and the air followed his intent, sweeping out a wide path straight to the large doorway.

He had built the metal tubes in the warehouse itself, so there was no method of moving the heavy pieces outside so he had to do it manually. He took the rolling platform that carried boxes in and out of the warehouse and rolled it in front of the pieces he would need to carry out his plan.

He picked up and set down each tube, connector, and component box and placed them neatly onto the platform, shuttling it outside whenever it got too full. His mind fell into a sort of meditative state with each item he had heaved with the power of Dust and aura. Time seemed to pass both quickly and slowly, each second both an instant and an eternity.

It was only when the Aura crystals on the desk ran out that Jaune mentally rejoined the real world. Every part was now outside and now the real work would begin. By his estimation, he had about an hour before his teammates would be in the city and fighting. He had to work fast and break a few records while he was it.

Jaune pushed his cart outside and replaced the empty Wind and Aura crystals, then got back into the swing of things. A specially designed heat-resistant plate was set down first, 20 feet by 20 feet and an absolute pain to construct. The 25-foot-tall support tower went up next.

The main stage engine was the first real component to be placed down. It was a fascinating design, a marriage of the utilitarian Earth design and the elegant Remnant design. The exhaust cone was attached to the engine and boasted a 60-degree angle of rotation. The engine itself was quite unique, a hybrid Dust and liquid-propellant design. The Dust was used to reduce the complexity and size of the engine block, as well as to dramatically increase the efficiency of the liquid propellants. The resulting engine had a thrust-to-weight ratio that was unheard of on Earth.

Jaune levitated over the largest body piece and welded it into place, using Scorch to weld the pieces of metal, Ice to keep the surrounding metals from heating up and compromising their strength, and Wind to keep the entire structure steady. The internal fuel tanks were put in, followed by the separator blocks. After a few other details, the first stage of Remnant's First Rocket aka Please Don't Go Boom-Boom was done.

The next and final stage was mostly similar, except for one detail: the fuel tanks were much smaller and had just enough space to fit twenty pods all around the perimeter. Jaune opened each of the hatches and attached the stage to the support tower before taking a well-deserved break.

He walked back to the table, utterly mentally exhausted from the strain of channeling outrageous amounts of aura. Whatever that woman, his partner from another life, had done to him, it had worked. He would have been burned to a crisp a day ago, but now only his brain felt like dying.

He leaned on the cart for a minute before running all the way back to his lab. He jabbed himself with a syringe labeled _'Pick Me Up',_ tried to contain the sudden boost of energy the unholy concoction provided, and dropped into his cave, or as he called it, _Where the Bodies are Buried._

One by one, he opened and levitated nineteen bodies out of the cave and back into his lab. He reactivated the housekeeping system that regulated the creation and storage of bodies before heading back out. In the coming war, he would need bodies and lots of them.

The nineteen bodies were armed, armored, and supplied. He topped up each Aura crystal before slotting the body into the waiting cavity in the rocket. The aura should protect them from too much damage during the flight. If they didn't, that would really, really suck. Burns were no joke.

He put the nosecone on his rocket and stepped back for the last time, an hour and ten minutes after starting. It was knock-off quality, but Jaune hoped it would do the trick. Not worrying too much about looks, press pictures, quality control, the lives of the passengers, the cost of materials, the actual construction procedures, and overall quality helped a lot.

 _Scratch 60% chance of failure; if this thing even leaves this sorry excuse of a launch pad I'll be surprised. Even that is somehow too optimistic. Oh well._

Jaune climbed into the largest cavity, the only one outfitted with a pillow for padding and a set of gauges. Travelling in First Class, the Jaune Industries way. He chucked to himself at the absurdity of the situation. He was sitting in a rocket designed over a year, constructed in an hour with no quality checks ever, with 19 other clones of himself on board, and not a single worry about his own life.

 _This is the real hard part. Here goes nothing…_ Jaune closed his eyes and focused on the aura of the clones on board, filtering out everything else. He had felt their aural signatures when we was coming back down to Remnant from the..the.. _The Land of History Class? The Land of Exposition? Land Before Time? Whatever._ He knew how to search for a particular signature whenever he wanted to control a clone, but he never had tried to focus on more than one.

It was mind-bending, to say the least. He had to focus, while remaining unfocused and calm. He had to take control of the clones while remaining aloof and separate. It was like dipping your fingers in five different bowls of soup while trying to keep your finger from becoming dirty. Whatever had changed in him from his little death trip made the process much easier and within ten minutes Jaune was looking through twenty pairs of eyes.

 _All right, next stage, try not to look like a crap dance troupe._ Controlling each of the clones individually at the same time would require every ounce of brainpower he had, and meant that he had to reassign concentration depending on the needs of the situation. 3% of his total capacity could fight the lower denominations of Grimm, but anything more required more. He would have to end each fight as soon as possible and continuously cycle through each body to ensure peak performance.

Not as confident in his abilities as he would have liked, Jaune flicked a couple switched and waited for the startup programs to finish preparing for launch. He was already over time; his teammates would be far into the thick of it by now. A beep echoed inside the small metal cage, indicating that the ship was ready.

 _Now or never…_ The big green button was pressed and Jaune lost his breath. The rocket groaned as 10g's of force slammed into Jaune like a ton of brick. Each of his bodies felt it and each hurt the same amount. He fought to retain consciousness through the ordeal, keeping an eye of every readout through the ascent. His bodies would only have to be taken to a few tens of thousands of feet before the drop to ensure maximum spread. The rocket itself had to continue into orbit; the payload inside the long nosecone contained some nasty surprises for the enemy.

The drop zone approached steadily, the altitude readout barely readable through the shaking. His aura was flaring around him, protecting each body from the fate of becoming Jaune soup. He pushed a button and felt the entire ship lurch as the first stage separated. The ship continued for a few dozen more seconds before Jaune pushed the button again, this time separating the second stage and ejecting him and his other bodies into the clouds. The rocket would continue its planned course autonomously or bust; the most important part was miraculously over and no one had died.

From this height Jaune could see the entire city of Vale spread out under him, the rocket's trail pinpointing Beacon grounds. He rotated himself and the other bodies into a circle. Each body would go to a different part of the city and assist in the fighting there. Jaune flared his senses out once more, this time using all twenty bodies as an antenna for receiving aural signals from the city below.

The vague murky feedback he received from just his own body turned into a glowing map as soon as he used all twenty. The idea was an offshoot of the 'Very Long Baseline' techniques astronomers used on Earth for celestial observations. A few telescopes across Earth collectively could collect the same information as an Earth-sized telescope. Jaune was happy to learn that this could also apply to aura.

A familiar cluster of seven auras caught his attention. A large, but shrinking, army of darkness was on one side of them, with an unfamiliar aura in their midst. Weiss's white, Pyrrha's red, Blake's black, and Yang's yellow were circling at lunging at the unfamiliar aura, while the other three snuffed out the quickly shrinking blot of darkness.

He put 10% of his mental capacity into the clone closest to that sector of the city and angled it ( _myself? This is gonna be confusing)_ downwards, leaving the other nineteen in the air. Hopefully the element of surprise and an _explosive_ entrance would dispatch the threat quickly and he could turn his focus to the defense of the city. He couldn't survive in any fight longer than ten seconds against a Hunter-level enemy. And he really didn't want to die.

…

Five Minutes Later

 _God. Damn. It. That's nineteen clones left,_ already _. What a wonderful start to the day, two deaths already!. And I need to remember to say sorry for subjecting my team to watching me die twice. Maybe a nice vacation after this is all over…_

* * *

AN: Lots of revelations in this chapter! And sorry about the huge gap between the last chapter and this one, I had to rewrite half of it and that took a while.

And as always, please review and PM me about any criticisms or things you liked. It's a huge part of the writing process!

And I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I'll try to address the Guest reviews in these otherwise useless ANs from now on(I would encourage creating an account though, it's free and I get to direct message you rather than do this).

And shameless self-plug: I have uploaded another story, this time humor focused! It shows the inside workings of the Valean government and how it is stopped from collapsing every day by the efforts of one Malcolm Tucker. It contains very, very mature language and is based off the brilliant political satire show 'The Thick of It' and its movie 'In the Loop'. Check it out, it would make me happy :).

Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great day!


	26. Reunion

**Teams RWBY and JNPR**

The stunned silence continued as the seven hunters and huntresses processed what had just happened in front of their eyes. If not for the ash floating in the air and the large burn marks on the pavement, the death of two humans might as well not have happened. Nora opened her mouth to speak when everyone jumped as Pyrrha's scroll rung and disturbed the almost silent atmosphere. She fumbled her scroll but eventually got it under control. She tapped the answer button to be greeted with Ozpin's emotionless face, but there was both mirth and sadness in his eyes. An odd mixture.

"Team JNPR and Team RWBY. I am sorry for what has just occurred. One of our shuttle launch stations was hijacked by the White Fang, led by one Adam Taurus. It is for that reason that a ship full of humans was destroyed above Vale. Do not blame yourselves for this disaster, but use that energy for the defense of life and nature. Now for the future."

The seven students glanced at each other, each thinking the same thing. _Is he not going to say anything about…y'know. The dead terrorist and the now twice-dead Jaune?_

Ozpin seemed to read Pyrrha's expression and chuckled, confusing the students further. "Ah yes, the not-so-late Jaune Arc. He has some tricks up his sleeve and his sleeves are some of the largest I've seen. Everything shall be explained in due time, but what you must do now is return to Beacon immediately. The city is lost and we must concentrate our defenses at Beacon. I have issued a full retreat of…"

"A _full_ retreat?" Ruby leaned over the scroll. "Sorry Headmaster, but aren't we never supposed to retreat all at once?"

"Apology accepted Ms. Rose. Your concern is valid, but we have received some unexpected help which you have already had a taste of. Your retreat shall be covered, but your mode of retreat will be left up to you. Beacon cannot spare any of its Bullheads. Good luck."

Ozpin's video disappeared and the scroll's screen turned off. Pyrrha closed the scroll and put it away, trying to think of a plan of action and failing. Pyrrha may have the most experience fighting, but Jaune was the leader for a reason: he could strategize.

Pyrrha glanced sidelong at Ruby to see her deep in thought. She looked around to see everyone staring at the two team leaders, driving up her stress levels even higher. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, using the techniques she had been taught to minimize pre-fight nerves.

 _A full retreat, helped by an unexpected source of help that we have met?_ She turned her head to look at the burned road. _That certainly qualifies as unexpected. But who_ was _he? He looked and sounded like Jaune, but how can Jaune still be alive?_

She looked around once more, but noticed Blake staring at the skyline. She followed her line of sight and saw a queer looking black painted airship flying their way. It was smaller than a Bullhead and had a cockpit, but that's where the similarities ended. This airship had long smooth wings that looked like those of an overly large crow. The bottom of the ship and the wings had long spear-like projectiles as well as mottled hemispheres attached to it. A low hum emerged imperceivably from the quiet of the ruins of the city.

"Cover, now!" Ruby's shrill voice pushed everyone into motion. The seven scrambled to hide behind the rubble on the highway. The airship did a low sweep over the bridge and came back around but slower. It came to a stop above the bridge and started coming down. The engines barely made a sound even in the near silent surroundings.

Blake slid her cleaver out of its sheath and the others followed suit, ready to fight. The cockpit's hatch slid open and a man hopped out. Nora squinted, trying to make out the identity of the individual through the dust the craft's landing had thrown into the air.

Weiss was about to cast a Barrier but a hand stopped her. She looked over her shoulder to see JNPR standing up with smiles on their faces.

"Alfred!" Ren ran after the excited Nora as she half-hugged half-tackled the figure. Pyrrha stayed back and smiled at the sight.

"Pyrrha, is that really Alfred?" Ruby put Crescent Rose away and stood next to Pyrrha. "What's he doing here and how did he get an airship?"

"Ah Ms. Rose, it is good to see you." The robot stopped a few feet away, smiled, and inclined his head at her. "And the rest of Team RWBY, it is quite excellent to see you all again, for sure."

"Hey Alfred, "Yang gestured at the plane. "Where did you get that sweet ride?"

"Ah, yes, the plane. Mr. Arc instructed me to bring it to this location for an escort assignment. Where shall I set our destination?"

"Beacon. Is there enough space for all of us in there? It seems kind of small."

Alfred shook his head. "Unfortunately this was the one plane air-capable among all the ones Mr. Arc was building. It is only a gunship and as such will be providing air support for you on the way back as Master Arc cannot help himself."

"Wait…" Pyrrha cocked her head.

"Are you saying…" Weiss blinked.

"Jaune's alive?!" Ruby stared at the robot in shock, not daring to hope.

Alfred's face took on a confused shape. "Yes, of course he is. I assumed he returned from Team JNPR's trip to Atlas to attend to some important business."

"He personally spoke to you?"

"He remotely activated and instructed me from the hallway outside of his lab per the location signature on the message." Alfred looked around at the shocked and doubtful faces of everyone around him. "I could forward the message if you wish to verify my account."

"No Alfred, we trust you." Nora's beaming smile cheered the robot back to his normal self. "It's just, never mind."

"Where is Jaune? Do you know, Alfred?" Pyrrha couldn't believe her ears, but she let hope fill the void left in her by Jaune's death nonetheless.

"I am sorry Ms. Nikos, but that is information classified by Mr. Arc himself. His instructions were for me to escort you all back to Beacon where he will rendezvous with you."

Pyrrha sighed and rubbed her eyes. More of Jaune's secrecy about his activities. All this was getting to her, the stress of fighting for her life twice in a day, the stress of losing her partner and close friend, the stress of knowing what awaited her back in Beacon, the real reason for the retreat.

"I am ready to begin the escort assignment at any time. Simply begin moving in Beacon's direction and I shall provide aerial support should the need arise."

"Everyone ready?" Ruby looked around at the set faces of her fellow students, seeing determination in each pair of eyes. She had never felt so proud. "Mission: back to Beacon. Let's go team!"

…

The last Ursa was dispatched with a quick shot from Alfred's airship. The metal projectile skewered the monster through the eye, came out its lower back, and embedded itself in the ground. The Grimm's body leaned back on the metal pole, appearing as if the hulking creature was simply standing.

Pyrrha pulled her sword from the neck of a Beowolf and her shield from another's head. The impromptu clearing they had created was filled with craters and the bodies of the Grimm equally. She could see Beacon's towers above the tops of the trees, which meant they were only half an hour away from safety. From answers. From the future. Sometimes she wondered if she made things too melodramatic.

"My sensors do not read any more significant Grimm presence on your route to Beacon. I shall take your leave now teams and wish you a safe rest of the journey." The engines of the airship buzzed as the ship flew away. She already missed its comforting presence, which came mostly from the twin chainguns that used large caliber Dust rounds and from the wing mounted railguns.

The seven of them were tired and didn't speak a word as they gathered themselves and continued the trek back. The walk, or rather climb, up to Forever Fall had been a nightmare, with waves upon waves of Grimm assaulting them every so often the entire way. It was only thanks to the airship's sensors that they had any time to prepare; it felt as if the Grimm were preparing ambushes to stop them from making their way back to Beacon.

Twenty minutes later, her eyes had started to droop. It had been hours of almost non-stop fighting all the way from Atlas and it had taken a toll on her, physically and mentally. Her tired eyes continued to habitually scan the trees for any more threats, but the monotonous greenery dulled her senses. She blinked and started monitoring again, seeing nothing but trees, tress, a face, more trees, wait a second. Her eyes flicked back to the spot where she had seen the face to see a flash of blonde hair and shaking leaves.

She drew her sword and jumped into the forest, leaving the others staring dumbstruck at her sudden departure. They waited for a minute in a silence before Pyrrha reemerged from the forest.

"Pyrrha, what happened?" Ruby peered up at the taller girl in confusion.

Pyrrha smiled unconvincingly. "Nothing, just thought I saw something. Let's keep going."

Everyone shrugged, too tired to put in any effort to investigate further. Time passed uneventfully as the two teams made their way up the mountain, using the many trails carved into the rock. The sun was high in the sky when they finally reached Beacon grounds. A few large airships were landing at the landing pads, dropping off Huntsmen teams who hurried through the main doors.

RWBY and JNPR ran towards the doors and into the Great Hall, where other teams were already milling about, glancing up at the stage and whispering. RWBY and JNPR went to the left wall and stood by, waiting for Ozpin to take the stage and explain exactly what was happening.

"You guys look pretty confused." Cardin Winchester's loud voice turned heads towards their location. "Guess Ozpin kept even you guys in the dark."

"Good to see you in good health Cardin." Pyrrha smiled her plastic smile that she used for the endless commercials and public appearances back home in Mistral.

"Same, to all seven of you. Where's Jaune, still in the city?" Cardin scanned the faces of the crowd.

"We don't know, really." Ruby grimaced at the truth of the words.

"That's classic Jaune. Keeping us guessing, eh?" Cardin laughed aloud. "Last I saw him he was leaping around downtown. Saw him pin a Nevermore to a wall using that railgun of his. Anyways, gotta get back to my team, they'll poke their eyes out with their swords within 2 minutes, the idiots."

He didn't hang around long enough to see everyone's jaws drop at the nonchalance of Cardin's statement. That pretty much confirmed Jaune was still alive and kicking, even after falling into the ocean and blowing up. Somehow. That son of a gun.

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

 _Oh good lord that hurts_. Jaune groaned as he lay on the metal shelf inside the morgue. Feeling the pain of one body while fighting was painful enough; feeling the pain of nineteen different bodies was another level altogether.

Ozpin had contacted his scroll halfway through the fight telling him to cover the retreat of the other teams. Jaune had never been recruited as a suicide bomber, but this feeling was close to what he imagined.

It didn't help that each body of his was underperforming due to split attention and inexperience. His scroll carrying body was killed while putting away the scroll by a supersonic arrow from a passing Giant Nevermore. Another had died when he stumbled and fell off a bridge onto an Alpha Deathstalker's stinger while low on aura. Two had succumbed to their own chemical weapons, and eight had blown themselves up. The last seven deaths had been the least embarrassing but their deaths had still hurt a _lot._

He groaned and slid off the metal table. His head swam with the remnants of the pain of dying twenty times and hurt like hell to boot. Taking deep breaths, he headed out of the morgue and through the bustling hospital. All kinds of injuries were being treated, from simple cuts to severed limbs and more. This was just the start of the fight; the real threats still hadn't revealed themselves yet.

Jaune sprinted through the hallways, drawing the attention of older students busy with battle preparations, to his lab. He dressed and equipped himself with his usual garb, the sword at his waist, his miniaturized chemical launchers on the inside of his arms, the Dust channeled armor, and his pouches filled with goodies.

He walked back into the hallways and pulled his scroll out. He navigated to the tracker he had put on the scrolls of his friends, who were all currently in the Great Hall with expectedly low auras. Nothing that liberal usage of Aura Dust couldn't cure.

He turned the corner before the door to the Great Hall and knocked on the backstage entrance. The door opened to reveal Port's girth. "Jaune my boy! Come in, come in." Port shut the door behind him and led him through another door into the teacher's lounge. Ozpin and Glynda were sitting at the central table, the latter talking hurriedly into a scroll and the former staring rather impressively at a dust mote. Oobleck was nowhere to be seen.

"Headmaster, Jaune is here." Port took his seat at the table. Ozpin gestured Jaune to the fourth.

"Well done guarding the retreat, Jaune." Ozpin turned his attention to Jaune.

Glynda put her scroll away. "You've improved by leaps and bounds since you left for Atlas. You've even come back from the dead."

Jaune grinned guiltily. "The headmaster told you?"

"He did. I didn't believe him until I saw two of you killing an Alpha Giant Ursa together." Glynda's eyes bored into him over the top of her glasses. "What you did with the clones is punishable by death, did you know that?"

"Which won't affect him at all, so I think we can keep that moral matter for later."

"Of course Headmaster. I was simply asking if he knew the dangers of his experiments."

"I am fully aware of what I'm doing Headmistress, there is no reason for concern." Jaune knew Glynda cared for him and didn't want her to be angry at him.

She just nodded and went back to her scroll. Ozpin grinned slightly. "Now Jaune, do you want to explain what was the ship you launched earlier this day?"

"It is what I call a rocket, a ship that can go beyond the atmosphere."

Ozpin leaned in closer. "Beyond?"

"Indeed. Dust of course cannot be used past the reaches of Remnant's atmosphere and so an alternate fuel source is necessary."

"And what did you use?"

"Solid propellants mostly like ammonium compounds, polymer binders, high energy nitramides, aluminum flakes, plasticizers, stabilizers, and metal oxides. Mixed together and assisted by Gravity and Scorch Dust in atmosphere."

"And you managed to discover these reactions by yourself?"

Jaune hesitated. "I will not deny I may have found vulnerabilities in the Valean military's intranet and used that to gain access to their research servers." Lies upon lies.

Glynda and Port both swiveled their heads to meet his eyes, eyes wide in surprise. Ozpin simply chuckled. "Wouldn't expect anything less Jaune. Not a single thing less."

"You what?!" Glynda bounced her attention between Ozpin and Jaune.

"Glynda…"

"Someone needs to monitor the students anyways." Glynda walked out of the office.

Port burst out laughing after seeing Jaune's nonplussed face. "Dear lad, do not be scared. The headmistress is quite stressed dealing with the defense of this wonderful academy."

"That brings us to the point Jaune. We are going to need you to coordinate the defenses of the building proper. Your previous blank check for permissions is still applicable."

"So I still can…" Jaune dared to hope.

"Yes, you can use any tool you want to stop the Grimm from reaching the school grounds." Ozpin opened the laptop sitting in front of an empty chair and clicked around for a second. "The only thing I cannot promise is backup from another Hunter team. Plan smart, fight smart. Your team is almost here by now, Glynda does work fast. Impresses me even after all these years."

The door creaked open and Jaune turned around to see Pyrrha's face staring back at him, her face oddly blank.

"Hey there Pumpkin Pete's." Jaune didn't think Pyrrha could've looked any more confused. She was an expectation smasher like that.

"Jaune how…how are you still alive?"

"Sea turtles, mate." Jaune stood up and shrugged. He hoped making jokes would make them feel more comfortable, make the atmosphere closer to what it was like before the Promethean screwed everything up.

Nora stepped into the room and the temperature dropped two degrees. "Jaune, tell the truth. We saw you explode! We were worried!" Jaune had never seen Nora this serious and it hit him hard.

"Sorry guys." Jaune nodded at Ren as he stepped in, but the tall boy just shrugged and stood next to Nora. "I…I uh don't know where to start."

Nora's voice was icy. "You could start with telling the truth about how you survived blowing up over the open ocean."

Jaune pretended to gather himself. He had thought it would be easy to make something up, to surprise them in a brilliant way and explain everything. But now that he was standing in front of his teammates, he had no idea how much he wanted to reveal. _Should've prepared earlier. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess._

"Before you start, I would advise your teammates to sit down." Ozpin got up, coffee cup in one hand and the laptop in another. "And I would advise you to keep the drama to a minimum. Good luck Mr. Arc. And JNPR, you need to be battle-ready within an hour. Keep that in mind. Pyrrha, meet me after you are done planning." The door closed behind the headmaster, leaving Jaune in a room with three quite angry dangerous teenagers.

"So, uh, how much do you guys know about Project Aquiline?" Jaune didn't expect them to know about it and his expectations were met. "It was a secret Valean military project to try and create soldiers for the war effort. While Atlas focused their research on robotics, Vale's efforts were more human."

"What do you mean?"

"You guys have felt aura's healing properties first hand." Jaune didn't wait for acknowledgement. "Concentration and focus lead to aural energy speeding up healing, sometimes in miraculous ways."

They all nodded.

"What if this process could be accelerated artificially, regardless of the state of the user? This research led to the invention of the healing machines that started popping up in war camps. Saved thousands of lives and turned the war in Vale's favor."

They nodded again.

"What happened next is still classified. Don't ask me how I got access to it. After the success of aural healing on the unconscious body, funding was increased to the department and they got to work pushing the bounds of this technique.

They could heal smaller and smaller pieces of a person's body as the war went on, improving their methods and equipment until they could regrow limbs in a matter of weeks with a 60% success rate. The program had the theory cemented all the way to spinal cord regrowth, but that was where the war ended and peacetime politics took over.

The funding was erased from the books, the approval documents disappeared, the legal impunities stripped, and then the scientists were tried and executed. All in secret of course."

"But why? This research sounds like it would improve medicine by leaps and bounds. Why was it hushed up?" Pyrrha leaned in, completely focused on the story like the rest of his team.

"Exactly. I dug deeper and deeper until I hit the goldmine. The scientists weren't just experimenting with injured patients; they were producing human clones to test on."

"Oh Dust no…"

"Oh Dust yes. Human clones, braindead of course, were being injured in lab conditions and then experimented on. Most of the procedures didn't work and resulted in countless mutated bodies being buried in secret. The rate of burials exceeded the influx of patients, which is what brought my attention to it.

Not content with simply boosting the clone's innate aura, they smuggled in aura experts from around Vale to attempt to catalyze the clone's dormant aural healing with the experts' own highly potent aura. The results were less than stellar: most of the experts lapsed into madness while the others died or fell into comas.

The mad ones were interrogated during periods of lucidity, and the only thing common in all the testimonials was that they all were trapped in a large building of varying descriptions that was utterly devoid of any color or detail. They spent their time wandering the endless featureless hallways searching for the exit, catching glimpses of the wonderful world outside.

Whenever they found an exit, they came back into the real world for a short time before being sucked back into the emptiness. That's where the reports I could find ended."

Silence filled the room for a moment before Ren spoke up. "You said that the experts merged their aura with the clones'?"

"That's _precisely_ what I noticed too. The mind of a braindead person is completely empty by virtue of being dead, but their vitals still work. That means there is some structure inside the brain that can be measured in some form or another.

The madness started after the auras were forcibly entwined, which lends credibility to this theory, no? After this I went on my merry way and explored more of this mental real estate. Turns out it's _really_ hard and I never could reach that level. But I did find out one thing: aura could be projected through thought. I could send out probes of aura that interacted with Dust and other aura-related paraphernalia without worrying about the physical obstructions that normal aura usage is limited to." _Here goes nothing._ "And so I used this technique to take over the bodies of clones of myself. Of course, the first batch were…"

"What?!" The surprised shout from all three of his teammates echoed off the walls of the room.

"I, eh, used this method of controlling my aura to take over and control the bodies of my clones?"

This time stunned silence wasn't as satisfying as it had always been. There was a sense of triumph in other cases; here there was a heavy undertone of guilt.

"And you didn't tell us?" Pyrrha sounded genuinely hurt. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Pyrrha, what could I tell you? The only thing confiding in you would have resulted in is more stress for you guys and that's the last thing I wanted!"

"We are your team, Jaune." Ren was quiet as usual, but his words were forceful. "This is absolutely ridiculous. We could have helped you do these experiments, ensured your safety."

Jaune stifled a guffaw. "Ren, there is nothing I needed help with as evident from me managing to do everything quite well by myself."

Ren's expression became hard and he sat back into his chair. Nora swiveled her eyes from Ren to Jaune. "Why?" She raised her finger as Jaune started to speak, her eyes dangerous. "Why did you do this? Why did you betray our trust and do such a horrible thing?"

"Horrible?" Jaune couldn't believe his ears. Sure, cloning carried with it some hardcore ethical concerns, but he wasn't doing anything bad with the bodies, was he?

"Cloning, Jaune. There is a reason it is banned in every kingdom. It is a gross human rights violation and just wrong!"

"Wrong?" Jaune was starting to get angry now. He had thought his teammates would have been angry at his lack of trust in them, but now they were questioning the _morality_ of the situation? "Was it wrong for me to save your lives back on that bridge? I killed a man for you without even checking who he was! Do you understand the level of trust I have in you guys for me to do that? But no, go ahead and question me. Just remember that if I hadn't arrived at the right time, you all would all be _dead_ right now."

Jaune didn't let them respond to his harsh words. "And the retreat that let Beacon regain its strength? That was me. Those that that Hunter on the bridge didn't kill would have fallen to the sheer amount of Grimm that were pouring into the city. Nineteen of me defended the city to my dying breaths _nineteen times._ I have died dozens of times defending those I love from those who wanted to hurt them."

"Jaune…"

"You have no right to judge my actions or my thought processes especially after all I've done. The Promethean, that rogue Hunter, the Grimm, all threats that I saved you all from by sacrificing myself."

"Jaune, listen to us." Pyrrha's voice was serious and earnest.

Jaune closed his eyes and motioned them to continue. The rant had left him breathing deeply and the uncharacteristic anger spiked his adrenaline levels. He didn't know why he lost control so suddenly, but he had to bring himself back to normal.

"This, this is quite a revelation. I think I speak for all three of us when I say that our feelings on this are complicated. On one hand, the reality of you cloning yourself and using them to fight is terrible and very wrong. On the other, we couldn't have made it out with the success we did if not for you. What I propose is that we ignore this extremely morally dark grey issue for now and focus on the incoming threat of the Grimm. What do you all say?"

Jaune opened his eyes and looked at Nora and Ren, who thought about it for a second and nodded. Pyrrha turned to Jaune and looked pointedly at him. "That sounds good to me Pyrrha, thank you for being reasonable. Now, we need to plan."

"Goodwitch said you had defensive plans of your own set up around Beacon?"

"That's the kind of talk I like." Jaune pulled out his scroll and placed it face up on the table, flicking and tapping until the schematics of the school's defenses popped up.

Pyrrha glanced quizzically at him. "You had this ready and waiting? We have had no time to do anything but fight since Atlas."

"Plan for the worst is what I say. Anyways, this," Jaune pointed at the front promenade. "This is probably the easiest spot to defend. Long sightlines for easy coverage by the school's sentry turrets. Unless the other defenses fall, the only Grimm that can attack from here are those that can fly or climb the huge cliff."

Jaune tapped a few locations and sentry turrets came out of the ground, their sensor's ranges shown as blue areas that covered the entire cliff facing section of the grounds. "We don't have to worry about anything here. If any of the inner guns fall, we will have enough time to send Hunter backups. What we do have to worry about is here."

He highlighted and expanded the forest-facing side of the grounds. "This is a double whammy. First, the trees are tall and thick enough to hide the numbers of the Grimm from both visual and audio monitoring so we will have no idea where their forces are greatest. We must continuously annihilate all Grimm before we are swamped. The first ten meters can be cut down before the Grimm are expected to arrive, but that effort is better suited elsewhere.

The second whammy is that this is where we have the most sensitive buildings. We cannot set up large explosive traps due to the risk of setting off the underground Dust reserves below the dorms." He tapped and the area under the dorms flashed red.

"That's not good…" Nora plonked her chin into her hands.

Jaune smiled. "Don't worry Nora, I have something especially explosive for you, don't worry." They all laughed at her whoop of joy. "So the plan here is to stack as many short range defensive systems as possible. Ozpin oversees Hunter deployments and will complement the defenses with medium-range fighters. So, that means that you two, "Jaune pointed at Pyrrha and Ren, "will be situated here. You will be fighting and monitoring the defense systems, reporting each development directly to me."

"Sounds pretty straightforward to me." Ren nodded approvingly.

"Nora, here's where you come in. We've got two sides of Beacon locked down. What I want you to do is take care of this." An entire row of cannons folded out of the outer buildings along the last two sides of the school, aimed at the kilometer of open ground that contained grass and the occasional tree crisscrossed by paths. Students used this area to unwind, have picnics, and play games. "Loaded with the finest delayed explosion Dust mixtures I can produce. You can fire these things for hours before getting low on Dust."

Nora's eyes widened in joy. "Continuously?"

Jaune nodded, his grin widening as he noticed Ren's horrified expression. "The largest land Grimm can only approach from this angle, so I want you to obliterate without mercy."

"Oh, you don't have to worry Jaune. Not a single Grimm is going to get anywhere near the school." Nora's eyes twinkled evilly. "Not a single one."

Jaune, slightly disturbed, zoomed out on the schematics. "I will be overseeing all the logistics and helping out where I can. If you guys need immediate help, let me know and I'll try to arrange for something to assist you ASAP. Try not to get yourself hurt to defend Beacon property; we can lose buildings, turrets, and my bodies, but not you guys. Let's not make this a pyrrhic victory, alright?"

"Sorry, a what?"

 _Why brain, why?_ "Nothing Pyrrha, just a phrase from my childhood that's all. It means a fight where the losses outweigh the actual victory."

"Whatever you say Jaune."

Jaune winced. He had been good at not dropping too many unexplainable references, but sometimes things slipped out. The mood was somber as the four members left the room and headed to their sections of Beacon in preparation of the upcoming fight. Ren walked to the forest side, Nora to the cannon side, Jaune to his lab, and Pyrrha to Ozpin's tower.

None of them noticed the fifth occupant of the room, whose dark red eyes glimmered with malicious humor as she stopped the recording on her scroll. _Can't believe none of them noticed me._ She giggled silently. _This was easier than expected._

* * *

The Headmaster turned off his computer and waved Pyrrha over to a seat as she entered the room. Pyrrha took the offered seat, knowing exactly how the conversation was going to go. "I'll do it Professor."

Ozpin halted, obviously surprised. He recovered quickly and smiled a weak, almost regretful smile. "I hope to not have to take you up on this offer Ms. Nikos, but if the need arises I shall contact you. Be ready."

"Don't worry Headmaster, I already am." Pyrrha said with as much confidence as she could muster.

Ozpin simply smiled sadly and dismissed her.

* * *

...

* * *

AN: And that was Chapter 26. Some more exposition and plot threads started, plus the reunion. The upcoming siege is going to be exciting!

As always, thanks for reading! I appreciate each and every one of you. Please continue reviewing and PMing me, I take every single message to heart and I think the improvement in my writing over the course of these 26 chapters is pretty evident in my writing (or at least I hope!).

Also, a cookie to whoever can get the common theme of the titles of Chapters 17-22. Terms and Conditions apply to the state of the cookie delivered. See in-store for more details.

Have a great day and see you next chapter!


	27. The Final Problem

**Jaune Arc**

Jaune gasped as he slammed against the wall and the glass spear in his abdomen shattered. He groaned and pumped his legs desperately in an unsuccessful attempt at avoiding the hail of glass shot at him. Pain lanced through his body as each movement only worsened the wounds left by the shards holding him in place to the wall. Pyrrha was still on her feet for the moment, dodging and weaving around each attack, not in any immediate danger for the time being.

Jaune closed his eyes and focused the scattered remnants of his once impressive aural defenses into something that could help heal this body into at least a decoy for Pyrrha. Unsurprisingly, that's when the universe decided to throw him for a loop as the entire top of the tower blew off.

Luckily, it dislodged Jaune from the now non-existent wall and threw his bleeding body across the room and onto a deformed gear. Jaune couldn't summon enough energy to move anything but his eyes and stared in surprise as a huge Grimm dragon circled back around the tower, uncaring that it had just flown through dozens of tons of rock and metal. His spine must have shattered as he couldn't feel anything below his navel. His aura was nowhere to be found and all he could do was lay on his back and watch the one-sided fight between Pyrrha and Cinder take place.

Pyrrha was stuck on the other half of what was once Ozpin's office, trying valiantly to reach Jaune. Cinder had realized this as she kept blocking her advances, almost as if toying with the girl. Jaune couldn't see much of Cinder other than the back of her flaming red dress, but he could feel the aural energy that radiated away from her like heat from a bonfire. It was almost unbearable.

Jaune opened his mouth to shout something to Pyrrha but only blood came out of his mouth. Pyrrha shot him a worried glance, despite knowing full well that the body was disposable. It was a hard habit to overcome during battle, but it cost Pyrrha precious aura as a hail of glass shards glanced off her and into the wall behind her.

She hurled her sword at Cinder, only for it to be swatted away like a fly. Cinder stopped levitating ( _an absurd display of power_ ) and walked towards Pyrrha, who was holding her shield in front of her, eyes glaring at Cinder. Cinder reached a hand out to the shield and stroked the edge of it.

Jaune couldn't hear what was being said. His eardrums were most probably busted at this point, along with the rest of this body. There was nothing he could do but watch.

* * *

 **Pyrrha Nikos**

Pyrrha ducked suddenly and swept Cinder's legs. Cinder hopped over the sweep, but Pyrrha used the distraction to scramble to her sword. Cinder just watched her go, her sneer visible despite the low light.

"Still fighting the good fight. Brava, Ms. Nikos, but you are merely delaying me taking back what is mine."

"You don't deserve to be the Maiden. Being a Maiden is an honor and you will only misuse it." Pyrrha hadn't moved from her position after picking up her sword. She stood rock-steady and ready to fight.

Cinder on the other hand was the exact opposite. Her stance was casual, her arms folded in front of her elegant dress. Her eyes were locked onto Pyrrha's. "Ozpin is a liar."

Pyrrha flinched at the words, but she didn't respond.

"But now it doesn't matter. He's dead and gone." Cinder raised her hand and particles from the air around her materialized into a dagger, the edge glinting in the fading sunlight. Pyrrha blocked the attack, but a sharp pain in her ankle caused her to drop to her knees. The shield clattered to the floor and Cinder's shadow fell over the fallen warrior.

"Two faced attack. A true Maiden would never let such a trivial technique trick her. You deserve nothing and that is what you are going to get."

Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak but Cinder's dagger flashed and Pyrrha fell silent forever.

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune's frustration boiled over as he watched Pyrrha fall to her knees. There was nothing he could, despite his seeming omnipotence and immortality. Any body he switched to would not arrive in time and deprive some other team of a valuable ally. His body was reliant on his natural aura regeneration to fix his body, which would take until dawn. And he refused to run away. The least he could do was be around for Pyrrha's last moments, morbid as it may be. He owed her his meager company at least.

He wanted to yell, shout, flail his arms to signal to his partner that he was there, but all he could do was look back into her eyes as Cinder dealt the final blow. As the dagger pierced flesh, Jaune felt an incredible energy pour through his body like wildfire. He arched his mouth and screamed, but the scream was not his.

It was high pitched and sounded like…Ruby's. The world went white and the flow of energy through him increased continuously. He tried to stay coherent under the current but it was too much. The energy swept him away and tore apart his perception of reality. He felt multiple presences around him, as if he was in the presence of beings entirely out of his senses.

The white current of energy started to take form as strange musical speech reached his ears. With every swell of sound a mountain was formed and with every pause a valley. Fast speech formed rivers and brooks, babbling along peacefully. Patient speech created lakes and oceans. Jaune struggled to swim to the edge of the river that carried him downstream. Every time he thought he had gotten closer to the shore, a wave crashed over him and brought him closer to death.

This cycle lasted hours. Swim closer, get pulled away, try again. Hours of exhausting swimming later, he reached the side of the river of energy, utterly mentally exhausted. He heaved himself out of the river, feeling the surge of pure energy drain out of him as his shaking arms pulled his body out of the white torrent.

He closed his eyes and, with a final groan, freed his legs from the rush. He keeled over forwards, his legs pushing weakly at the ground under him.

 _No, I must get up and explore, who knows where I ended up now. But this ground feels so good. Ma_ y _be I can take a quick rest?_ Jaune's perseverance faltered and his body collapsed utterly, glad to finally get a chance to recover.

"Mr. Arc!"

A groan escaped his lips. Everything felt so good, he didn't want to move.

"Mr. Arc! Do get up!"

Jaune groaned and cracked his eyes open to see baby-blue eyes staring back at him. He blinked and everything came crashing down on him like an avalanche. He waved his arms and sat up. "Alfred?" He rubbed his eyes and looked around as the robot butler moved away from the fallen Hunter and continued his duties.

"Mr. Arc, you gave me quite a fright. Are you sure you are alright? I would suggest a scan to ensure that your nervous health is in perfect shape. Blacking out could also be a sign of abnormal blood pressure, which can sneak up on the healthiest individual due to stress…"

"Alfred."

"Oh dear Mr. Arc, when did you last check the health of the clones? An aneurysm could provide fatal in battle."

"Alfred, I'm fine! My mind was just elsewhere and my balance must have slipped."

The robot butler cocked his head in worry. "Should I check your inner ear sir?"

Jaune laughed. "Sure Alfred."

Alfred dusted his hands off, his entire body posture radiating relief. Jaune would know, he programmed it. He grabbed a kit off the wall and sidled up to Jaune's ears. He placed electrodes on either side of Jaune's head and monitored the data. Jaune already knew what to do and moved his eyes around in the appropriate order.

"Seems like usual, you were right Master Arc." Alfred sulked as he put away his device. He hated being wrong, the implication of which had been pointed out to him many times by his friends.

"Alfred, don't be that way. Let's get back to work." Jaune watched the robot return to his duties before turning back to his desk. What had just happened to him? He had never fallen asleep at his desk, and never had such a coherent and lucid dream before.

There were only two possibilities at this stage. The first was that he had somehow lived through the entire day of holding the Grimm back, followed Pyrrha to the top of Beacon Tower, got beaten handily by Cinder Fall, watched Pyrrha die, then travelled backwards in time, and landed back here.

The other was that he had developed a new ability to somehow dream with perfect lucidity and completely self-coherent laws of space-time.

There was no way of knowing. Except…

"Alfred, what's the timestamp?" Jaune was trying to make sense of everything that had just happened, and wished to validate his theory from a third party.

"Your inner ears seem healthy, but brain damage can be quite tricky for aura to heal. Should I…"

"Alfred. Stop it. I'm perfectly healthy. Just answer the question."

"It's currently the 15th of March equivalent, 21:47:52. As you already know, apparently."

Jaune checked his watch. 16th of March, 15:37:32. Jaune stared at the numbers as gears turned in his head. Relativity stated that no matter how you navigated space-time, your proper time would always increment at one second per second.

 _Time travel is possible. What a way to find out._

Whatever had transpired after the first day of battle had been undone. He had another chance to ensure the safety of Beacon, of his friends. And this time, he wouldn't fail.

…

Jaune groaned and sat up. He had failed. He recovered from his disorientation faster this time around and shooed a slightly worried Alfred away from his desk. Jaune had done everything the exact same way as before to test his theory. If he did everything the same as he had done the first time, everything that happened in the first loop should happen again, right? It was risky to potentially squander the do-over he had somehow been given, but Jaune's analytical side was overpowering his emotional side. The death of fellow students, teachers, even Pyrrha had become data points to him.

As it turns out, his prediction was spot-on. The day had ended, the Grimm had attacked in earnest at dawn, many died. Pyrrha and he had assaulted the tower and she had been killed. Ruby (the scream he heard sounded almost exactly like Ruby) had arrived too late and then time had reset by the blast of energy.

Jaune turned to the table to redo the work he had done the last time and the time before that. He worked in silence for a few minutes before throwing his pen down in frustration and storming out the doors of the lab. Knowledge of enemy movements was priceless, but what good was it if you were afraid of changing anything?

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was working with instinct rather than conscious thought now and it was incredibly difficult to form any plans under the circumstances. If he changed anything, events may swing in a way that could be unfortunate. If he saved a student's life, who knows how the battle may end? He wasn't willing to risk giving up the advantage of a guaranteed redo but if he didn't take a risk then he would end up right here yet again. And again. And again. He decided to take a walk to clear his head.

The world outside was as grim as it had been when he had entered the lab for the first time after the first day of battling. The first day of the battle had gone swimmingly. All the defenses had held. Each side had been equally pushed and the defenders had responded with extreme prejudice. While the school celebrated, Jaune had elected to retire to his lab to plan.

It had been a tough challenge but somehow it didn't feel like they were being attacked by a horde of savage, blood-thirsty monsters. It felt closer to an army that was laying siege, which frightened Jaune more than the number of the Grimm. He had expected the forest-side to be punished early on, but the Grimm came in waves, and none of the waves contained any strong Grimm. Professor Port had dismissed his concern, citing five other occasions on which Grimm had attacked in waves such as this. According to him, the Grimm attacked only when morale was low, and so each wave weakened as morale improved, eventually leading to victory.

Jaune acted relieved, but his instinct still worried him. Animals had an instinct for a reason, and those who ignored it didn't survive to pass on their inferior genes.

His team would be in the Great Hall right now, replenishing their energy and aura with thousands of calories. The emotional soup inside the four walls was almost palpable to a great range. It was the biggest battle in recent history and everyone was happy to be alive, anxious for what the night would bring, afraid for their friends.

Jaune turned away from the main campus and walked into the dark field that was marred with craters and black stains. _Nora did a splendid job. She didn't even need my help._ The Grimm had retreated from this side of the school first, which was no surprise as Jaune had seen Nora's frightening familiarity with everything explosive.

He was far enough from the school that it would be difficult to see him if anyone in the Great Hall looked out. He took a small device from inside his pocket and threw it onto the ground and wound his aura around a thin metallic rod jutting out the side of the puck-like device. The air around the object pulsed and took on a white glow.

Jaune smiled a little. The device had taken months of iterations to get right and the result was something spectacular. Remnant was already familiar with hologram technology and aura-assisted memorization techniques, but Jaune was the first to marry the two concepts together. If someone had managed to capture an experience or memory well in their mind, they could imprint that memory onto a section of their aura. Thus, whenever that memory faded from the physical brain, aura would repair it back to how it was at the time of preservation. A backup. It had drawbacks, the biggest being the fact that your overall ability to remember decreased along with your effective aura stores. It was a difficult, situational, and ultimately not very useful, but Jaune had mastered it nonetheless.

Now he picked out the strand of aura where he had saved his memories of the past two loops and wound it around the metal rod. The air shimmered once more and settled into the shape of the destroyed tower. He could have done this in his mind, but this device allowed him to play, pause, zoom, and many other functions that improved the technology significantly. He would've applied for a patent, but the fecal matter had made friends with the fan.

Jaune flipped the image upside down and wished he had started archiving the memory earlier. There were some crucial missing details that had slipped out of his mind the first go through. He fast forwarded past Pyrrha's death and the subsequent time slide into the past. He watched the whole day go by, watched people die a third time, and then end up back in the tower. Jaune moved through the memory frame-by-frame, watching for anything he had missed. There was nothing. Cinder was simply too powerful for the two of them, which wasn't too surprising.

She bested first him and then his partner using nothing but completely overhand techniques. There was no trickery, no outside interference other than the dragon, and no way he could even think of beating her in one go. Jaune continued the tape until the point where Cinder gave the fatal blow. He gave a quick pulse of aura around him, confirmed no one else was around, and then started the memory once again.

He searched every inch of his memory for any confirmation of the source of the immense blast of aura. On his fifth look through, he noticed a small speck of red cloth that entered his vision and left it immediately after. There had been nothing red save for Pyrrha's sash anywhere the tower before, and the it couldn't have been anyone else.

 _Alright, so here's the timeline. I notice Pyrrha running out of the school towards the tower, I follow. We reach the top while Pyrrha acts weird._ Jaune held the emotion at bay as he remembered how Pyrrha had grabbed his hand and whispered a few, deliberate words in his ear. _And then the doors opened, we fight. Ruby must have noticed the fighting and somehow gotten up here. She couldn't do it alone, so it must have been someone that could assist here speed. Weiss? Need to investigate. She reaches the tower, Pyrrha dies, she screams, insert source of energy here._

Jaune reopenedthe display and forwarded to the part where he entered the timeslide. However, the image came out all wrong. Everything seemed flatter than flat, it was two-dimensional. Jaune paused the image and tried moving around the image, only to see the image was two-dimensional unlike the rest of the memory.

 _Huh. This is interesting. I should've expected something like this, if I wasn't being a complete idiot._

It really did make sense. If his brain realized it was travelling through time at a velocity other than one second per second forwards, then it couldn't comprehend more than two spatial dimensions. Hence why his memory wasn't two-dimensional the first time around but it was now.

 _Ignorance is bliss,_ Jaune shut off the device and lay down on the grass, _or something like that._

Now that he had the data he needed, Jaune found himself reluctant to think of the future. The walls he had built around his emotions were breaking down without any logical supports to keep them up. Seeing your closest friend die, not just once but _twice_ , and having to face the reality that he must watch her die multiple times over was something that hit him like a punch in the gut.

Jaune covered his face and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The next day would likely be the toughest challenge he'd ever faced. Ensuring the best possible outcome while making sure that the day reset was something that would have to be done with the utmost precision. The logical supports slowly settled into their places and the sense of purposeful calm settled over him like a warm blanket.

…

Jaune closed his eyes and growled deep inside his throat. This was the twentieth time that he had gone through the loop and he still couldn't fix anything! He swept everything off the lab table and stormed out into the warehouse, past a concerned Alfred who was programmed not to interfere with Jaune when he was in such a mood.

Jaune went into a dark corner and sat down, his arms around his knees. Twenty times he had gone to the tower. Nineteen different deaths. Eighteen attempts to fix something. Seventeen hours before it happened again. Sixteen, the stories in the tower. He could see the numbers, the connections, the logic, _BUT NONE OF IT HELPS!_

Jaune breathed deeply again. He was supposed to be this genius, this powerful user of aura, hell apparently, he had made the damn thing! But none of his intelligence mattered if couldn't do anything about it! He had deviated from the original timeline in every way he could think of without breaking it and risking a non-reset. None of it had worked. Beacon was overrun thanks to inside interference (he had confirmed it on the fifth loop), many students died, Cinder won the fight, and then Ruby reset it all.

He still hadn't figured out what was causing the reset and that was utterly maddening. He was used to pulling deductions from barely any data and here he was sitting with eighteen sets of data and he couldn't understand. It wasn't something Ruby had done voluntarily, but something primal and base. It was raw, pure, and unchecked energy.

Jaune stayed in that position for an hour, thinking over everything that would happen the next to somehow come up with something new to try. Wake up, rally everyone to fight, get betrayed but not reveal that we did, follow Pyrrha to the tower… _wait a minute_.

Jaune bolted upright. _Why was she going to Ozpin's office anyways? She knew that Ozpin wasn't in the office due to the attack so why would she be going to the tower?_

Jaune got up and headed out of the warehouse, intent on leaving the battlefield a little earlier than the loops earlier. He was sure that whatever Pyrrha was doing, whatever she seemed so awkward and final about in the elevator was of utmost importance. And he would figure it out.

…

Jaune sprinted through the hallways of Beacon as the wing started to collapse under the barrage of Nevermore feathers. This sector had been the first to fall but it was also the closest to the heart of the complex so it made sense the Grimm attacked in greater numbers at this location.

His scroll beeped to indicate it had relocated Pyrrha's scroll after she had manually turned its location off. Thankfully Jaune had added in his own backdoor to each student's scroll that allowed its location to be tracked in case of emergency.

The red dot representing her aura was heading into the center of the school, to the main building. He picked up speed as the roof started to sag over him and managed to run into the door that Pyrrha had gone through a few seconds ago. The frustrated cawing of Nevermore was muffled by the heavy doors that would prevent the Nevermore from getting in.

Jaune threw a Barrier down for good measure and followed Pyrrha's trail to the central elevator of the building that led up to the classrooms. He rounded a corner into the main atrium to see the doors close. Jaune hurled a small glass sphere at the door which exploded in a burst of thermite. Jaune tackled the weakened doors and bounced off the metal, his flesh protected from the extreme heat by his aura.

He caught his breath as the thermite continued to eat away at the door. After a minute, he kicked the mostly molten slag and dived through the 2500-degree mass of metal into the elevator shaft. The powerful electromagnets in his boots activated and clamped him to the side of the shaft. A quick look down confirmed that Pyrrha had taken the cab down, into the 'forbidden depths' as the teachers termed. There was a cavernous excavation under the school but there was no documentation about it and no real advantage to exploring it.

Jaune hopped from wall to wall as he descended, wishing he hadn't been so lazy and devoted a few hours to checking out what was going under the school. If he had, he wouldn't be rushing into an area with no intelligence; it was maddening enough not to know what to do.

He reached the parked cab and dropped onto the top, where the maintenance hatch lay. A few taps on his scroll and the electronic lock on it opened, which in turn opened the doors. Jaune demagnetized his boots and swung down the hatch and out the doors.

It was a small tunnel, lit by small green lights that were spaced at regular intervals. There was some sort of machine at the end of it, inside a much larger tunnel. Jaune could make out Pyrrha's bright red hair and Ozpin's unique silhouette.

Pyrrha climbed into a pod of sorts and the machine lit up with an orange aura. Ozpin turned to him in surprise as Jaune slid to a stop next to him.

"Mr. Arc, you should not have come here."

"What do you mean? What are you doing here?"

"This does not concern you Mr. Arc. There are areas in which I let you have free reign to gather information but this is not one of them."

"She is my partner!"

"She is an exceptional fighter who is going to be our only chance to survive this battle."

Jaune was taken aback at the confident tone Ozpin used. "How can you possibly be sure?"

"Jaune, there are times when you must respect experience and authority. This is one of them. We do not have time to chit chat. She will be here any minute."

"Who? Cinder Fall?"

Ozpin threw him a sharp look. "How do you know that name?"

"That doesn't matter now, Headmaster. What matters now is what's going to happen after this. Cinder will reach your office with powers that are utterly incomprehensible and she is going to destroy this school. What. Is. Your. Plan." The decision to reveal what he knew of the future was a quick one, but it was the only way to get Ozpin to cooperate.

To his surprise, Ozpin turned to the machine, regret and resignation on his face. Jaune turned to follow his gaze to see another pod attached to the machine where a young woman with a large facial scar was lying comatose, her orange aura glowing around her.

"The future isn't as malleable as you think Mr. Arc." Ozpin's voice was quiet. "The dimension of time isn't as linear as is commonly accepted. Energy is the only currency the universe cares about." Ozpin turned to him and opened his mouth to continue but an arrow whizzed through the air into the comatose woman's chest. Her aura faded away and a burst of energy exploded out of the pod and into Cinder's body who was standing in the large hallway.

Jaune cursed and scampered backwards to Pyrrha's pod as the wind inside the tunnel picked up. He broke open the glass and helped Pyrrha out. Once she was on her feet Jaune turned back to Ozpin.

"Headmaster?"

"You two need to leave now! Jaune, I think that you now know what must be done. I entrust the safety of the school in your hands. Pyrrha, help Jaune do what must be done. Go!"

The two ducked into the side tunnel as Cinder flooded the main tunnel with tongues of flame. They ran into the elevator and rode it to the main floor. The ground rumbled around them as faint explosions sounded deep underground.

"Jaune, how did you know where I was?"

Jaune mulled over the question for a second. There was no reason to reveal the whole truth yet. "I couldn't feel your aura above ground. I knew that there was a large excavation down there, and so I checked."

"Why did you want to find me?"

"I…Well, I just kinda thought you were in trouble. Like a gut feeling or something. I honestly don't know, it's nothing scientific." The lie came naturally and Jaune hated it.

Pyrrha smiled and said nothing.

The elevator dinged open and Jaune pulled out his scroll. "There have been casualties, but nothing too heavy. The Grimm have been pushing in towards Beacon Tower."

"Ozpin's office?"

"Most probably, though I don't know why they would swarm an empty tower." _Completely empty, except for the homicidal bitch that Ozpin's battling under the tower. How does she control them anyways?_

"Guess we should go then." Pyrrha took off running and Jaune followed a second later.

…

The battle was going in full force all around the campus. Explosions were occurring at every range as massive amounts of aura and Dust were being employed to keep the creatures of darkness at bay.

The first team the two saw as they exited the main building was CRDL, who were battling a minor Goliath that had managed to slip its way through the exterior defenses. The normally cocky expressions on the four were replaced with fear, determination, hope, and ultimately more fear as Sky was thrown bodily across the lawn by a five-foot-long tusk.

Pyrrha slowed her run but Jaune was quicker to react. He used his aura boosters to launch him sideways. He recovered in midair and ran on his newly corrected path. A flare was enough to disorient the charging Goliath and for Jaune to scoop Sky into the air and over the seven-foot-tall Grimm. The blinded creature didn't stop and ran throat first into Pyrrha's javelin that she had embedded into the ground. It was a maneuver Port had introduced into the curriculum after seeing employ the tactic to kill a charging Alpha Beowulf with minimal effort. It was the same technique used by boar hunters in the medieval era and, hey, why fix what's not broken?

"Jaune, thanks for the save." Cardin slapped Jaune heartily on the back. "As much as we hate Sky, team CRD doesn't sound as good as CRDL." The team laughed at Sky's fake indignation.

"For sure. Good luck for the rest of the day!" Jaune and Pyrrha waved to the team and continued their run around the girth of the main tower towards the administrative tower. They had just managed to get Beacon tower in their sights when an explosion lit up the area and shook their very bones.

An airship came careening out of the air, flames blackening its sides. Pyrrha grabbed Jaune and dived back behind the building as the ton of metal and volatile Dust slammed into the ground where they had stood.

Jaune's eardrums must have burst at least twice with the initial crash and the explosion as the aura crystals bled into the fuel Dust directly. Pyrrha was already on her feet and scrambling towards the crash to check for survivors. Jaune sat up, confused as all hell. _This didn't happen the first go around! Have I already screwed up the timeline? Why is everything more chaotic now?_

Jaune finally collected his wits and helped Pyrrha with extinguishing the Dust and moving aside the twisted metal. It was clear within seconds no one had survived. Everything was too twisted and there were no living aura signatures from inside the wreckage.

"It was a civilian ship."

Jaune turned in surprise to his partner. "How can you tell?"

"No weapon grade Dust on board." She saw his surprise. "I did pay attention when you taught us that Jaune."

Jaune facepalmed. _Of course! There would have been tertiary explosions if this was a vehicle of war. But that meant...civilian ships were now flying over Beacon. What in Dust's name was going on?_

"Pyrrha, we need to end this as soon as possible. Did Ozpin give you any information, any plans?"

"Err…" They both looked up as an explosion lit up the sky. It was a Giant Nevermore this time that came crashing down into the East tower.

"Pyrrha, this is no time to hold back information." The irony stung. "I need to know everything so we can come up with a plan."

Pyrrha took a breath. Another explosion lit up the sky and cast long shadows across her tired face. "There is this fairy tale called 'The Four Maidens' that described how an ancient power was distributed amongst four maidens that gave them the power of the seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall."

Jaune nodded. He had read a lot of Remnant's folklore to familiarize himself with the culture of the world. "That fairy tale is real?"

Pyrrha nodded.

"Alright, ok, so that woman inside the machine with you was a maiden?" That threw a wrench into his scientific understanding of the powers in Remnant. Dust and aura could be explained scientifically in terms of thermodynamics but the maidens' power was borderline magic.

"The Fall Maiden. Someone had attacked her with a couple of others and stolen part of her power before Qrow saved her."

"Qrow Branwen?" He knew Qrow went on many excursions on behalf of Ozpin, why not one where he saves a fairy tale character from getting her power stolen? "If they could overpower the maiden, why didn't they try to fight Qrow?"

"I don't know, Jaune. I'm telling you everything Ozpin told me."

"Fine, go on."

"The maiden, Amber, was brought here to Beacon to be kept safe from her assailants. Ozpin searched for a worthy fighter to take her powers using the machine. He chose me."

Understanding dawned on Jaune. That explained her and Ozpin's secret conversations. "Oh no."

She nodded slowly. "As you saw, the transfer didn't work out."

"Cinder was the assailant and now she has the Fall Maiden's powers?" That explained so much about Cinder's powers. She had been a formidable crime boss before, but now… _No wonder why she seemed so indifferent towards earning money unlike Torchwick. She had broader goals._

The ground rumbled and shook and a bright orange flash of light shot up the inside of Beacon Tower illuminating the windows as it went. The sounds of battle became louder and the cries of Grimm grew more prominent.

"Jaune, there is no time. I have to stop her."

 _Here we go again._ Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm as she turned away from him. "Pyrrha, you can't do this."

" _I_ have to try, Jaune." Pyrrha's face masked her true emotions that brewed inside her, but Jaune had been through his argument twenty times already.

"Pyrrha, whatever you think you need to do, whatever you feel your destiny is, it's not worth it."

"Jaune…" She sounded scared, almost hurt.

"Pyrrha, trust me on this one. Have I ever done something that ended up being completely wrong?" _That was a bad choice of words._ "Answer this instead: do you trust me?"

"Jaune of course I do, but…"

"No. Do you trust me fully?"

They maintained eye contact as explosions and screams rang out around them. "I do."

"Good. Then listen to me closely. You cannot take Cinder alone. She is too powerful and all you will end up doing is getting yourself killed. We cannot lose you." Jaune blinked away tears. " _I_ cannot lose you."

He pulled Pyrrha into a tight hug and held on, letting the emotions flow over him. Seeing her death twenty times had done some incredible damage to his psyche but somehow he could feel himself healing. Psychologists were right once again. Hope welled up inside him. _Somehow, this will be the one I solve this problem. This is where I break the time loop._

Jaune broke the hug and held her hands in his. "Now, Pyrrha, let's go and end this. No more bravado and heroism. We do this together."

"Together it is." The two partners ran towards the tallest tower together as the school fought for their lives around them.

…

The elevator ground to a halt and Pyrrha threw the doors open. Jaune dived left and Pyrrha right in time to avoid the firebolt that seared the air between them. Jaune blind threw a doped smoke grenade around the pillar he was hiding behind. Pyrrha did the same but with a powdered Gravity Dust grenade.

The Gravity Dust would bring the doped smoke particles together after diffusion, resulting in a multi-use on-demand cloud of smoke. Patent pending. Jaune rolled through the smoke and threw a few firebombs into the mix.

A red glow emanated from within the cloud of smoke and a wave of pure heat blasted out from Cinder, dispersing the smoke and making the entire arena feel like a furnace. Pyrrha sprung out behind her pillar and threw her fully extended javelin at the floating Cinder.

Cinder swatted aside the javelin but was not ready for a piece of ferromagnetic material traveling at Mach Ten to impact her chest. She fell out of the air and slammed into the wall of the office, leaving a crack in it.

Pyrrha retrieved her javelin using her semblance and leaped onto the off-balance Cinder. Jaune reloaded his railgun and watched the hand-to-sword combat take place. Pyrrha was attacking at such a rate as to prevent Cinder from doing anything more than defend her strikes.

Jaune finished reloading and preparing his next set of gadgets for deployment. Pyrrha tired of her assault on Cinder who could now do more than defend. She dropped to the floor and swept her leg under Pyrrha who jumped and slammed down onto the older woman with her shield.

Cinder blocked the blow and threw Pyrrha backwards. Jaune threw a few sparklers at Cinder which ignited and threw out a constant stream of colored sparks and forced Cinder to push forward.

Jaune was ready for the assault, as it was one Cinder had used every time he had gone around. She faked a leap forwards then hovered and blasted Jaune with a stream of fire. Jaune had fallen for it the first couple of times, but he had learned that blocking a stream of fire with a metal shield wasn't very comfortable.

An Ice Crystal later, Jaune was safe behind a wall of melting ice that would absorb massive amounts of energy thanks to the high latent heat of ice. Jaune threw Pyrrha an aura crystal, which she drained immediately to refill herself to full.

Cinder quickly realized what she was doing wasn't working and summoned forth her glass blades to block Pyrrha's charge. Pyrrha used her sword fighting skills, painstakingly learned over years of practice to push the Fall Maiden back inch by inch.

Jaune grimaced at the grating sound of metal hitting glass, but there was nothing he could do but ignore it. He took aim and fired another slug from his sword at Cinder, who had enough presence of mind to dodge the attack by spinning away.

Pyrrha followed Cinder while Jaune reloaded with a different projectile. Everything had been going damn well so far. They had to push her hard for a few dozen more seconds before the dragon would show up.

"Heads up!" Jaune aimed and fired the special projectile. Pyrrha leaped out of the way, the projectile blowing her hair around before it split into five different orbs. Cinder had no time to do anything but use her flames to block the path of the projectiles.

It was exactly what Jaune wanted. If Cinder could apparently break the conservation of energy, he could abuse that. The heat was enough to completely disassociate the nitrogen atoms from the unstable compound filled inside the flimsy outer cover of the projectile.

Atomic nitrogen is one of the most reactive substances found in nature, and the formation of triple bonds releases stupendous amounts of energy. The whole section of the office blew up and the wall crumbled under the heat and pressure. Pyrrha and Jaune were thrown backwards by the blast, while Cinder was nowhere to be seen.

Jaune grinned as he saw the dragon stop circling the tower and prepare its attack. This was how it went down every time, but it was fun nonetheless. Jaune waved Pyrrha to get down and braced for the attack.

It never came. The dragon just flew over the top of the tower and continued to circle. _Wait, what?_ Jaune's mind raced trying to reformat all his plans for this unexpected development. If the top of the tower wasn't destroyed, getting up here would be harder for Ruby. _Which meant that this could be the final loop. What triggered it though?_

The pile of rubble under the hole shifted and Cinder picked herself from within the pile of cement and dusted off her short dress. It was still immaculate, somehow. "Jaune Arc, you are _quite_ a fighter." She bowed sarcastically, staring up at her two opponents with mirthful, yet cold, eyes. A shiver crawled up Jaune's back; he had the weirdest feeling of being a mouse in a cat's paws.

"Thank you, Ms. Fall." Jaune inclined his head uncertainly. This had never happened before and he had no idea of what to do. Getting dozens of redoes certainly ruined your intuition.

She laughed. "And Ms. Nikos while I live and breathe. You are quite a fighter yourself."

Pyrrha didn't say anything.

"Smart girl. Jaune, "Cinder walked up to him slowly, her hips swaying despite walking on what was essentially a pile of rocks. She reached up and stroked his cheek. "I am so sorry I kept you waiting, but you really shouldn't have escaped."

Cinder noticed his eyes twitch slightly in Pyrrha's direction. She looked at Pyrrha and then back at Jaune's slightly guilty expression before laughing. "Don't tell me you didn't tell your friends? That both is and isn't the Jaune that I know."

"You don't know me Cinder."

"Oh, but I do. More than you know. I know who you are, "she placed a finger on his chest. "And who _you_ are." Her stare bore through his eyes and somehow seemed as if they were looking at something behind him.

Jaune was not willing to break their eye contact first. "And how exactly do you know me? The Prometheans? Torchwick?"

"No Jaune, someone who has been on your mind often lately. It's a little puzzle I'm sure the great Jaune Arc can solve. After all, you helped solve Vale's every problem for good."

 _This is going from bad to worse real quick._ "Cinder, what are you doing here? Why do you want to see Beacon destroyed?"

"You haven't figured it out? I am most disappointed. I had such hopes for you."

"Give me a hint here. Is it about revenge? Power?"

"It's about revenge, yes. Power, that too. But there's a bigger picture that you're missing. Think hard Jaune, it's right there."

"The most peaceful time in Remnant history?"

"The highest expenditure on defense."

"The safest humanity has ever been?"

"The most corruption ever seen."

"The highest quality of life?"

"The unhappiest people have been. Jaune, think think _think."_

 _She's feeding me opposites. Higher, lower, safest, most dangerous. Positive and negative._ Something clicked in Jaune's mind. His mind flashed back to Ozpin standing in front of the machine inside of which Amber's powers were being transferred to his partner. Ozpin's morose and regretful face as he said, _'The future isn't as malleable as you think Mr. Arc. The dimension of time isn't as linear as is commonly accepted. Energy is the only currency the universe cares about.'_

"Oh no." Jaune breathed as things clicked inside his mind.

Cinder simply smiled.

 _The malleability of time is obvious, there were a lot of things I couldn't change like…_ Jaune looked up at Pyrrha's worried face. _Nonono, that can't be true, there has to be some way to change that!_

But deep inside he had already understood the gravity of the situation. _Energy is the only currency the universe cares about._ Spontaneity in the universe depended on the lowering of potential energy in any system. Chemical reactions only proceeded given the overall energy of the system decreases. A ball moved through space to the bottom of a hill to reduce the gravitational potential energy. Whenever a locus's energy seems to increase, the rest of the universe's would invariable decrease.

"Aura."

"Grimm." Cinder smiled as if Jaune was a slow student that was finally grasping a concept, but there were strong undercurrents of malicious intent.

"Jaune, what is she talking about?"

"It all makes sense now." Jaune's emotions were already being pushed to the side as his brain spurred into overdrive. "Our usage of aura and her usage of the powers of the Maidens create energy out of naught. I thought it was a consequence of this particular universe's rules, but it's not. The energy we create is taken from somewhere else. What is the antithesis of the Hunters?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "The Grimm."

"Exactly. Our usage of energy feeds into the Grimm population. They are the balancing factor to our unbalanced energy equation. The increase of entropy to our work done!" Jaune shook as epiphany upon epiphany struck him.

 _Talk about two edged swords. The very tool that enabled humanity to survive is going to end up consuming the world._ There was something missing, however. Something utterly relevant to their current situation. _But what about time? The future isn't malleable…time isn't as linear as thought. Pyrrha…_

"Are you here to speed up the balancing of the equation? Is that why you do what you do?"

Cinder just cocked her head. "I have been shown the entire truth. The possibilities that reveal themselves once you look past the petty squabbles of humanity are breathtaking. Balance is where true power lies. Hence, the plan."

"You didn't come up with this on your own. Who helped you?"

"Time is running out Jaune. _Time_ is running out. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. You know the truth now. You seek power, the same as I do. Join us. Balance the universe."

 _Why didn't any of this happen bef…oh. Of course._ The universe always attempts to reduce its energy in any way possible. _This must be the path of least energy, of the greatest entropy._ Time _is running out. It's not as malleable as I thought. This was going to happen anyways, but it would increase entropy the most if it was done by my hand._

Cinder must have seen the light of realization in his eyes. She smiled sadistically and stepped away. Jaune side-stepped over to Pyrrha. There was only one chance to do this. Even if the ball must end up at the bottom of the hill, what law says that it must be done at a certain time? He was an inventor, an engineer: he would fight the universe tooth and nail to make things work the way he wanted.

Pyrrha kept her eyes on the still-smiling Cinder. "What is your plan?"

He leaned over to whisper into Pyrrha's ear. "This will be hard, very hard, but it must be done. Do you trust me?"

"Completely." Pyrrha looked down at an aura crystal that Jaune passed to her. It was the clearest crystal she had ever seen, almost invisible. It was also perfectly shaped, each edge shaped to the highest tolerance, each corner sharp.

Jaune stepped behind her and took a deep breath. "This is experimental, but it's our only chance. I want you to empty your entire aura into the crystal."

"Jaune…"

"I _need_ you to trust me."

Pyrrha nodded. Her familiar red aura glowed around her and flowed down her arms to pool into the crystal. The crystal absorbed every single shred, as Jaune intended. Jaune supported Pyrrha as the aura exhaustion took hold of her body. He fed some of his own aura discreetly to Pyrrha which both strengthened her and diluted the purity of the crystal both. _All part of the plan._

"Done." Pyrrha breathed weakly. Jaune took the crystal from her and placed it into a pouch. "Now what's ne…"

Jaune shut his eyes and grit his teeth as he felt Pyrrha's heart pulse around the blade of his dagger.

"Ja…Jaune…"

"Sssh, it's all okay Pyrrha. This was all meant to happen." Jaune gulped. All his lies and half-truths to his friends had come easy, but this truth was one of the hardest things he had ever said. _What does this say about me?_

"I...dest…" Pyrrha went limp in his arms.

"Your destiny." Jaune shook his head. If the evidence hadn't been so damning and widely sourced, Jaune would never have believed. But to have Ozpin, Cinder, and the mysterious voice during his 'death' all give complementary information, there was no way to go against it.

"Curious. You seem almost desensitized to killing your own partner in cold blood."

Jaune shook as he stood back up. He put the bloody dagger into its sheath and looked up to Cinder. "This is the part where you reveal you've been broadcasting this to the entire school."

Some part of Jaune's mind managed to find joy in Cinder's surprised expression. "How did you know?"

"Destroying my reputation by showing me killing Beacon's best fighter from behind is an excellent way of increasing entropy. Some might even say the only method." Jaune's voice was monotonous.

"So, you do understand the true state of the world." Cinder's sadistic expression was back on her face, joined by an infuriating smug expression.

"We all are slaves to the universe's laws." Many people rejected the concepts of fate, of destiny. Jaune had too, until last night. Now it seemed that there was shortest path to the heat death of the universe and Jaune's worldview was shattered. "But…"

"But?"

"But that doesn't mean we have to obey them. Slaves can rebel. Slaves can fight back." Jaune threw an Ultra Barrier crystal onto the ground in front of Cinder and connected it straight to his aura pool. He groaned as Cinder threw everything she had at the barrier and stringed together the dozens of aura crystals he had hidden about his body. He pulled his scroll out and tapped into the PA system. Cinder may somehow have gotten access to Beacon's systems, but two could play that game.

"Attention students." The first crystal was now completely empty. "You have undoubtedly seen the video that just played. I know you are confused, scared, angry, but know that I, Jaune Arc, have a very good reason for doing this. However, the emotions you are feeling now have undoubtedly summoned more than a few Grimm to this location. Flee. Flee. Flee. Beacon has fallen. I repeat, Beacon has fallen. Retreat, regroup, live to fight another day."

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby watched with her mouth agape and watery eyes as every screen on campus showed Pyrrha slump to the ground and reveal Jaune holding a bloody knife. The leader of the defense was stony-faced and staring at the body of his partner and closest friend with no expression on his face. The video feet stopped and the chaos started.

The forests which were already dark with Grimm grew darker almost instantaneously. The Grimm that were once small and dark now bristled with spikes and intelligence in their eyes. Nevermore were tearing the roof of the main building and a Goliath managed to break the defenses and charge headfirst through the cafeteria walls.

Ruby stayed kneeling in her sniper perch and watched the tide of battel turn instantaneously. What was once a hopeful defense turned into a slaughter. The defenders were pushed back meter by meter by the newfound ferocity of the creatures of Grimm.

The rest of team RWBY came running up to her. Yang stepped forwards first. "Ruby, Jaune just issued an announcement on the PA system telling us Beacon has fallen."

"Jaune did?" Ruby gulped past the lump in her throat. "But that thing that Professor Oobleck was fighting could imitate people, right? Maybe it was it instead!"

"I know Ruby, we all saw it." Ruby could see the other three girls were extremely shaken up, but holding it back much better than she was. "It didn't seem like Jaune, and I don't think he would do such a thing, but we need to leave either way. This school is not worth dying for. There are some Bullheads in the hangars we can use to evacuate. Let's go."

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

Only two aura crystals remained, and Jaune needed the last one. Pain wracked his body at the sheer expenditure of energy and his mind was in pieces, the logical glue holding the trauma back had dissolved. He grinned maniacally at Cinder as the Barrier started to fade away.

"You may have broken Beacon, Cinder. But you will never break humanity. There's a day when we'll fight and we're not going to fall. There's a day when we won't crawl anymore. That day may be tomorrow. It may be next year."

Jaune emptied his aura into Project Phoenix, a series of shaped charges and Dust that he had placed throughout Beacon at strategic locations. It would annihilate everything around the area, but leave his vault underground safe.

It was a 'Scorched Earth' type of plan, but this was the only way to ensure the safety of his friends and classmates. The world shook as the chain reaction began, starting at the base of Beacon Tower.

"But know this Cinder: as long as I'm alive and kicking, I will fight entropy to my dying breath. Take _that_ to your master."

With those words, the Fall of Beacon began and ended.

* * *

...

* * *

 **AN:** Yes, I did go there. Sorry, not sorry.

Anyways, I was going to post this a couple days ago on the 333rd dayaversary of this fic, but I couldn't get it out on time. Close enough right? I wanted to use this chapter to celebrate the anniversary of this story and thank each and everyone one of you who reviewed, PM'd, favorited, and followed me/the story. Seriously, you guys rock. 27 chapters, and 150k+ words. More than I ever thought I could write! According to word I've spend 749 hours over the course of 11 months of this fic. I don't think that is entirely accurate and I think Word needs to stop drinking.

The next chapter will be a while as I have a lot of really important exams coming up. Please leave a review, PM me if you want to ask a question/discuss something/point out errors, it really helps me write better and that in turn will make the story better. Win-win!

Hope you all enjoyed this doozy of a chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time!


	28. Act 2: Know Thine Enemy

**Beacon Ruins**

The young Beowolf padded carefully from block to block as he took in the unfamiliar scents that each block carried. They had strange blocky symbols painted upon them and the older Beowolves didn't trust them. The young one saw no reason to go against their judgement.

His foot moved a loose rock and he twisted his leg as he fell down the pile of rubble. This set off a chain reaction and soon the entire pile was collapsing the way. The beowolf tried his best to stay above the rubble but a chunk of rebar smashed through his skull and he dissolved.

His pack didn't pay much attention to his death; there were more than enough where came from. However, what used to lay under the debris interested the pack leader greatly. It was a concrete trapdoor about a meter in each dimension and, had it not been for the cracked ground everywhere else, almost completely flush with the floor.

It was completely undamaged, almost new. The pack leader sniffed around the edges until he found an exposed corner. He raised his bone covered muzzle to the sky and howled, calling every able bodied beowolf in the area. The strongest of them wedged their claws under the corner and strained upwards, their dark bodies pulsing with the effort.

As the door rose, other wolves joined in and wedged their bodies in to push it further up. With a final heave the door was open. A dark hallway met their eyes. But it was not the sight that tempted them; it was the delicious stench rising from inside that drove brother to fight brother to be the first inside the tunnel.

 **Jaune Arc**

"Piece…of…trash…" Jaune muttered in anger as he struggled to manually start the generator with his one good arm. The other was cut off below the bicep and hung uselessly. "Goddamn Atlesian…garbage."

Finally, with a violent rumble and groan so loud it could've mistaken for a dying Alpha Nevermore, the generator managed to start turning. Jaune fell backwards and lay there in triumph. He may have accidentally unleased an ancient horror on the land, destroying military property, an entire goddamn Hunter Academy, as well as his own life in the process, but at least he could get a generator to do its job.

Another rumble echoed through the maintenance tunnels the branched out from the auxiliary generator, this time decidedly not the roar of a generator that didn't want to start up. Jaune sat up against the warm metal of his only source of electricity and took aim with his sword.

A beowolf head peered into the room, and then in its place was a fine mist. Yelps of pain and surprise poured from the dark tunnel. Jaune didn't need his helmet to see that the tunnel was now empty, each Beowolf running away with its tail firmly between its legs.

Jaune extended a finger of aura to a nearby switch and shuffled the conducting Dust crystals around to power cycle the lab. He waited for the confident hum that usually accompanied this, but to no avail. He sighed. He was good, but apparently not even his systems could survive the systematic destruction of the academy.

He stood up, every inch of his leg shaking with the effort. He hadn't felt this weak since seventh grade when he had tried running a marathon, in the rain, with only a week of practice. He had passed the seventeen-kilometer mark before passing out face down in the mud. He dug his sword into the dirt and used it like a walking stick as he limped his way into the tunnel opposite the direction the Beowolves had come.

Balance was difficult with legs made of cold marzipan and the lack of an entire arm, but he made do. It would've been easier if the tunnel was lit and the lab powered. Then he could've just taken control of another body inside the main lab and escaped. But due to the emergency protocol, the entire lab was under lockdown and could not be opened without restoring power to the mains. The lockdown was designed to keep the lab in stasis: nothing got in or out until the situation was under control. He would have to go all the way to the main generator to reset the situation. With two uncooperative legs, one arm, and a sword for a walking aid. It would have to do. The darkness of the tunnel swallowed Jaune.

 **Team RWBY**

The four girls collapsed in the clearing, their clothes singed and torn. Their expressions were shell-shocked and their shoulders slumped, the very image of defeat. Ruby slid down a large oak-like tree into what could have passed for a sitting position. Yang clenched her fists and disappeared into the woods, with Weiss in tow to make sure she didn't do anything rash. Blake gazed numbly into the distance, her face perfectly porcelain.

Neither said a word for the better part of an hour. The Sun continued to arc through the air and the shadows lengthened, but neither teammate moved. An hour passed, then two. The sky reddened, and the chatter of insects grew louder, seemingly unaware of the tumult inside the minds of the two warriors.

The Sun had touched the horizon when Yang came back, her gauntlets steaming with the ichor of countless Grimm. Weiss nimbly followed the brawler, her saber held securely by her waist.

"We should continue moving", Weiss' voice was filled with authority and false confidence born from years of training under her father. "We can rest later."

Ruby got to her feet. She and Blake followed their teammates back into the forest, their destination unknown. All Ruby wanted to do was curl up into a ball and go to sleep, but she knew there would be time for that later. They had to get to safety first.

 **Team JNPR**

Nora and Ren were alone. Again. They had given it their all to defend Beacon from the assault, but in the end it was too much. Nora could only focus fire on one area, and by the time she pushed back the local surge, there was another elsewhere. She hadn't heard Jaune's announcement and hadn't believed Ren when he came to get her.

Beacon? Fallen? With Jaune leading the defense? It was impossible! But it was near impossible to deny the hopelessness of the situation. She had helped everyone evacuate into Vale and then onto the Atlesian ships that had arrived to gather the students.

The two had watched from the air as explosions ripped across the campus. The only place she truly called home was not under meters of rubble. Ren held her close as the explosions died down and shared in her misery. It was like their childhood all over again, helplessly watching as everything they knew was torn down.

But this time would be different. This time they were ready to face the world. They would take the fight to the Grimm themselves. For their lost family. For their friends. For humanity. The remaining half of JNPR stepped off the airship into Atlas with only one goal in their mind: vengeance for the fallen.

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune sat down hard onto a chair, the images from the television screen playing across his disbelieving features. He had never felt this lost, this torn. News reports were playing stories on Faunus riots, a White Fang attack on Haven, and the Atlesian military's decision to quarantine the kingdom from the rest of Remnant, and general mayhem as many cults popped up calling this the end of the world.

In short, it was the absolute worst possible response to the Grimm threat. His eyes roamed his desolate lab and fixated upon the major cause of his consternation: the hole in the vault where he had stored his bodies. Somehow, someone had managed to hack his systems (Jaune had a pretty good clue as to who it was) and made their way past his defenses and into the lab proper.

Knowing the only way out of the vault that didn't involve tunneling through meters of solid rock was through the lab, Jaune decided to play the waiting game while he came up with his plan of action. He began by taking inventory and the result was everything he had expected.

Beacon students: dead or scattered. Beacon staff: unknown, dead or scattered. The population of Vale: dead or scattered. The only things that hadn't left Vale were the Grimm, and there was no reason to think they'd do so anytime soon.

He had only the Dust that remained in his stores, as well as anything in Beacon's that survived the assault. The Applied Mechanics department had been blown up in front of him, taking with it both construction equipment as well as most of the unfortified labs. The fortified labs contained nothing useful and were used to develop and test volatile weapon systems. Nothing that he was desperate enough to use. Yet.

His own stores were probably more than sufficient to last him months, but that's where his biology interfered. He had managed to stabilize his wounds, but he wouldn't be able to take on anything past a particularly stupid Ursa anytime soon. He had to get a new body.

 _And food._ He added as his stomach grumbled. He had to eat to maintain the bodies and he had no clue where he would find food in the apocalyptic wasteland outside. Deciding upon an immediate course of action, he heaved himself off the chair and stumbled over to the door to the vault.

He powered up the vault, powering down his lab's auxiliary systems and stepped into the cavernous space. Before he had the chance to observe anything, he doubled over and retched. Nothing came out as it had been a few days since he had last had anything to eat.

His nose had seized up in its futile attempt to block out the offensive smell, but even pinching his nose shut didn't fully stop the smell. _Why is the mouth allowed to smell? Who designed the mouth to allow smell to travel from the mouth to the nose?_ Knowing that it was important to produce nasal sounds did nothing. He would much rather have given up the ability to say 'Many mommies were nicely meeting on the moon' than smell this stench for long.

He moved forwards and tried to figure out where the stench was coming from. Something had died here, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. Most of the life pods that held his bodies were showing red, the universal sign for "not good"". However, the pods should've been hermetically sealed, throwing that theory out the window. Maybe…

Jaune recoiled as his newest theory was confirmed. Two of his bodies lay dead on the ground next to a group of damaged pods. Fluid had leaked from the pods and had congealed around the two bodies making the dark scene even more grotesque. A set of footprints led away from the scene and into another alcove that Jaune had meant to fill with a pod but had forgotten.

A young man's body was slumped over, the state of his body the only evidence Jaune needed to peg his cause of death. _Starvation. He must have gotten trapped inside when the emergency lockdown was put into place. Poor guy._

Jaune knelt next to the body and patted him down for any identification. His non-descript olive-green and black jacket hung loosely off his emaciated body. His grey eyes stared lifelessly at the ground. His feet were the only part of him not withered away and the reason was obvious with one touch: they were robotic.

He left the legs for later and searched the inner layers of his jacket, his nose about ready to fall off his face. His searching paid off in the form of a scroll stashed in a hidden pocket. Despite the situation, a smile fought its way into existence on his face. Now this was something he could act on in his current state.

Five minutes later, the body lay prone on a table in the far corner of the lab with a sheet over it. Its robotic feet had been thoroughly dissected and their parts lay spread out. The design was nothing special: prosthetics with shotguns embedded inside, Dust powered of course. Nothing about their design gave away any details of note and so Jaune had abandoned them in favor of hacking the scroll he had recovered.

Turning it on had revealed the man's name had been Mercury Black and that he had 400 odd messages. The rest of the details were secured by a top-of-the-line encryption, reserved solely for the highest government secrets. Either another government had decided to betray Vale's faith and had sent a spy to investigate him, or someone had access to government classified tech. Given what he had seen of the rampant crime in Vale, he couldn't be sure which option was the truth.

Jaune had experience with cracking systems, but the scroll was encrypted in such a way that to crack it he had to apply every technique in the book…then brute force a solution through the combined processing power of a Hunter academy to get anywhere. He frowned. This was no small task; they must have a master programmer with them.

Luckily, he had a Hunter Academy on hand, ready to serve the cause. One that still had most of its servers still functional, despite a rapid degrade in the quality of its infrastructure. It had taken quite a bit of his time to convince Ozpin and then the furious Headmistress to dedicate the (in her words, exorbitant) resources in moving the bulk of Beacon's processing power off-site and in a nearby underground bunker. Jaune knew the power of computers in a time of crisis and had worked his ass off to convince Beacon's heads of the same. In the end, he had succeeded. It was completely off the charts, with its own power supply and minimal footprint.

In short, it was designed for a (then) unlikely attack on Beacon. Jaune pinged each server and with each success, his smile grew wider. The server cluster connected to the CCT directly through Beacon, which meant that due to the current ruined state of Beacon, he couldn't access even local CCT without routing traffic through another device already connected to local CCT, which was the scroll in his hand. He had planned around this obstacle as well, sacrificing 5% of computing power to instead put in a back-up server that would hold raw text of everything that passed through Vale. Storage space wasn't at a premium, thankfully, and fudging something as trivial as this was easy when most people didn't understand half of what he was doing.

He had spent about a week making and months training an algorithm to detect garbage information like social media posts and only store data from law enforcement, individuals on watch lists, the dark web, and information databases. In the end, it was a rough snapshot of the CCT that minus the junk that made up most of it. Only information that was potentially useful to him (and by extension law enforcement) was kept, which reduced the total size to 0.1% of the total estimated size of the CCT. It also meant that social media's video and image content was essentially useless as it used server-side encryption that would require too long to decode. It would've been fine if he could've connected to their source server, but the fact that he couldn't was the entire reason for the backup's existence. A lot of formatting was broken, and there was a lot of irrelevant or garbage data, but it was better than being completely blind in an emergency.

Jaune set the machines working their magic and decided to nod off, the events of the past few days jumbling about in his head like a storm designed to drive him mad. Portals opened and closed, black birds flew down from the skies in dozens, only to turn into Atlesian robots as they fell. He saw black maws opening and closing, fluids pouring out into the shape of Vytal. Flames flickered, and smoke drifted, throwing shadows onto nothingness where eyes tracked his dream self. He fell through layers of rock and metal, each shattering like glass under him as laughter surrounded him, louder and louder and louder…

It was about four restless hours later when the computer pinged completion. Jaune woke up with a grunt, wiping away the drool from the corner of his mouth and blinked blearily at the screen, slowly coming back to reality. With a roll of his shoulders and a short breathing exercise, Jaune was refocused on the task at hand.

Only text files had been recovered so far, but they were the most important. They contained emails, chat logs, and most importantly, identifiable information. Jaune opened the chat logs and immediately face-palmed. The most recent chat header contained only three words and were the only three words that Jaune needed.

 _Message Received! From: Cinder_

Jaune took a moment to reflect upon the slight sense of relief that had shot through him upon reading that. It really spoke about his utterly skewed priorities that he was relieved that it was only one of the biggest crime bosses probably in all Vytal that was behind this break-in. _Guess being thrown into ancient history isn't as fun as Hollywood made it seem._

Jaune cancelled everything but location history (the fool had left it on) on the decode stack and sat back to scan this behind-the-scenes peek into Cinder's lackey. Everything of note was copied onto one of the many blank scrolls Jaune possessed in his lab with a few quick keystrokes.

From what the texts told him, most of Jaune's guesses had been right. Mercury had been sent to infiltrate his laboratory while everyone was distracted with the battle and was meant to gather as much tech as he could. ( _Corporate sabotage? Huh.)_ Unfortunately, by the timestamps, it seemed the lockdown had engaged as soon as he had gotten inside. After several unsuccessful attempts, he must have realized his situation and tried to sabotage as much as he could get his hands on, judging by the state of the life pods.

As thirst and starvation set in, he must have turned to more and more extreme measures. Namely, cannibalism of the bodies in the broken pods. Jaune felt pity well up inside him, but he quickly squashed it. This man had willingly helped perform the largest terrorist attack of modern history, and had done so extremely willingly, judging by his messages.

Aside from his messages to Cinder, mostly related to the attack on Vale, he had also coordinated with several White Fang captains and with someone whose ID on the CCT gave a cascade of fake IDs, much like Mercury's or Cinder's. _Another one of Cinder's lackeys?_

Whoever it was, her last known location was in a White Fang stronghold just outside the city, where she had gone to after the attack was well underway. Jaune frowned, brow furrowing in thought. If this was one of Cinder's lowly goons, Mercury wouldn't be texting her like he had been. She must be one of Cinder's closer goons, maybe even directly under her. Whoever it was, she had taken part in some of the fighting, but was pulled out midway.

 _Maybe it was because she's not a fighter?_ Jaune dismissed that idea almost immediately. Cinder didn't strike him as the person to keep a weak ally close to her without them giving her some great advantage. If that was the case however, Cinder wouldn't hesitate to keep them close at all times.

That leaves the possibilities of her being a coward and running away from the battle, but why would you hide out in a White Fang base if you had turned tail and ran away? Jaune struck that idea out too. That left the possibility of her being deliberately stationed there as being most likely. And if her being there was something his enemies wanted her to do, it seemed like the best thing to do was to not let her be there.

Jaune stretched, feeling the fatigue of the past 36 hours wash over his tormented body in a dull ache. This was a promising lead and was probably the best he would get without heading out into the remnants of Vale and collecting new information. All the data in the world couldn't help if you didn't know what you were looking for, and he wasn't going to sit around and piece together the pieces of the Mercury Puzzle collected from the CCT backup. What was he, Ozpin?

No, he was the farthest thing from Ozpin. Ozpin would be content to sit in his tower, pushing his pieces around and wait for things to fall. No, now was not the time for patience. Now was the time for action. He would go to that White Fang base. He would force his way inside. And he would make Emerald Sustrai tell him everything she knew about Cinder Fall.

* * *

 **Slight edit:** I posted a new story called Lives Worth Taking! Check it out, I think you guys will like it.

 **AN:** Shorter chapter that usual, because making 6k+ word chapters is incredibly difficult for me, especially in the last year since I don't get enough time to really sit down and just write for a few hours. This was I'm hoping it makes it easier for me to update faster, while also having the motivation from having a rolling story (fellow authors, you get what I'm saying).

Speaking of no time, I'm so so sorry for the extra long gap between the last chapter and this chapter. My life has changed a lot in the past year and I have a more cohesive plot going forwards from here. To those worried that his story will go to extreme fantasy and ignore science entirely, bear with me. The past chapters aren't what the rest of the story is going to be like, so stay tuned.

To everyone who followed, favorited, reviewed, and PM'd, thank you all so much. This chapter was more exposition to lubricate the move to a new Act (new structure hype), which isn't the most exciting chapter to post, but what can you do.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, and as usual, please follow and favorite if you liked this story, post reviews as reviews, and PM for any praise/complaint/question/anything. Love you guys, until next chapter!


	29. First Move

**Atlas**

General Ironwood's mouth was set harder than his namesake. None of the men under him dared even look in his direction, lest they attract some of his ire. His gaze was moving at superhuman speeds across the screens in front of him, which was unsurprising given the _extensive_ enhancements his visual faculties had undergone. His screen was full of what looked like jumbled letters, codes, and numbers like to someone with normal eyes. To someone with Ironwood's implants, the information displayed on the screen was automatically converted into electrical signals that allowed his brain to perceive the information in a three-dimensional fashion, rather than the simple two dimensions a screen displayed its data on.

This allowed him to visualize maps and plans without the need of perspective projections. What used to be a complicated mess of windows and alerts soon became interconnected meshes that allowed for intuitive rearrangement with a simple thought. He could also use any screen, no matter how its display was configured since the implant did most of the work. It was quick, efficient, and most importantly, secure. As far as they knew.

The still organic areas around his right eye twitched as new information continued to pour in. He had long given up trying to pay attention to the Level 1 information that gathered in the furthest layer of his vision like storm clouds on the horizon. His attention wasn't even on the Level 2 or Level 3, but rather on the Level 5 threats that kept popping up like the heads of a Hydra. _Who knows? Maybe a Hydra does pop up somewhere. That would be just my luck._

Drowning amongst the reinforcement requests from deployed Hunter teams, distress calls from Atlesian squads, and reports of Mahan Grimm showing up around Kingdom borders, James Ironwood didn't quite catch the automated reports of heat signatures popping up around Beacon Plateau, or the miniscule twitch in Grimm concentrations towards what used to be Beacon Proper. If he had, he might have been able to finish the puzzle that was spread in front of him. If he had finished that puzzle, he would have sprung into action, realizing the immediate danger that faced Sanus.

But he didn't, and so he continued to fight to stay ahead of the Grimm, while putting together a puzzle with half its pieces missing. A tough, but futile battle.

* * *

 **Beacon Ruins**

 _CLANG_

 _CLANG_

 _CLANG_

The pounding of metal was loud enough to be heard of miles around. The sound, both tinny and powerful at once, echoed off the rubble and fallen trees, disturbing the Grimm patrolling the fallen academy. They skulked through the ruined hallways, digging, bashing, doing their best to find the source of the sound. They could feel…something. None of the younger Grimm understood it, frustrating them to no end, and they scratched their muzzles to dislodge the uncomfortable feeling it aroused in them.

The older Grimm stayed away from one area particularly; years of survival-honed senses identifying the culprit. They knew this feeling that plagued the smaller Grimm. It would not do to be rash now; after all, being rash only led to death. A similar thought was going through the mind of the genius who tolled under that rubble.

* * *

 **Jaune Arc**

Jaune rolled his shoulders and fell onto his makeshift mattress in the corner of his lab, breathing an almost violent sigh. It had been a full day since everything had gone to shit, and here he was, with no real progress to show for it.

He closed his eyes and willed his muscles to relax, taking deep breaths in a meditative exercise. This feeling was driving him nuts, especially because there was nothing he could do about it, which was viciously ironic. He had gone over his entire inventory, which hadn't gone unscathed during the battle.

He had lost everything above ground, which amounted to about 60% of his Dust and most of his less volatile weaponry. Mercury's sabotage attempt had destroyed half his working bodies, and the unfinished bodies had been destroyed in the power cut. Cleaning that mess up was something he was putting off, despite his best judgement.

He had changed into a new body and dumped the old one into the furnace, putting the weapons and armor into a bin. He would have to manually recycle those components instead of relying on his machines; he didn't have enough electricity to run his lab at peak efficiency. It was like being stuck in the past, or in a cave with a box of scraps.

His weapon and auxiliary Dust stores were mercifully left untouched by Mercury, who apparently was smart enough to realize that messing with volatile prototypes and a near-magical source of energy wasn't a good idea,

Jaune had spent the past 4 hours cleaning the entire lab and bringing it to something slightly resembling a usable state. The physical labor left his mind free to think of a plan to approach Emerald, Mercury's partner, without either of them dying. She was the obvious first target as she would either have been an accomplice in his plan or would have executed a complimentary plan. Once he had some more context about Cinder's strikes, he could plan better.

Half his plans of getting to Emerald went up in smoke off the bat, most of them consisting of a meeting of their base and a very, _very_ large explosion. He couldn't also rely entirely on stealth either, since he would have to go all in in streamlining his loadout, which didn't leave a lot of room for error. He couldn't risk being caught and if he was, the element of surprise of his survival would go up in smoke. That was the only major advantage he had right now: his enemies didn't know that he had survived. He would have to strike hard, strike fast, and exfiltrate. All without leaving behind any evidence leading back to Jaune Arc.

He was also operating under very little intel. He knew where the base was, and the rough area where the command center was, but other than that he would have to wing it once inside. He couldn't afford to waste days on building microdrones and scouting the inside of the base.

His gaze flicked to the glowing crystal sitting on a desk in the corner of the room. It glowed with a dark light from within, its source non-physical. It was Pyrrha's aura, concentrated and stored in a pure Dust crystal. The events that had transpired on Beacon tower flashed through his mind, breaking the seals he had put up around them.

 _I killed Pyrrha._ His inner voice was emotionless.

A psychologist worth his salt would have a field day with his thoughts.

 _But Jaune, you had to! There was no way of saving her._ Another voice spoke, brighter, more earnest. _It was either your hand or Cinder's. This was the cleaner option._

He had _killed_ her.

 _There was no way she was getting out of that situation alive. This way, she at least has a chance at coming back._

A snowball's chance in hell, sure.

 _That's still better than zero._

Jaune sighed. He knew that what he had done was…something that was very hard to rationalize, even to himself, but he had done it nonetheless. Cinder was too powerful to defeat, and escape was next to impossible. Even he, who had triggered the explosions, had managed to barely cling to life and had lost half of that body's limbs.

Then there was the issue of the time loop that had made him suffer through the battle repeatedly. He had had to watch Pyrrha die at that villain's hand and witness friends and classmates fall and fall again at the tearing claws of the Grimm. As far as he knew, he was the only person to be sent back through time, and the only trigger that caused it to happen was Pyrrha's death. That was, until he had done the deed himself.

The effect of Pyrrha's death was obvious: broadcasted to the rest of Vale, it had caused chaos, anger, and panic in record quantities. The emotion effect amongst Beacon's inhabitants was like that of a nuclear bomb going off. Most had heard of Jaune Arc, Beacon's young genius weaponsmith who had managed to impress even the smartest engineers. The shock of watching the betrayal live created a veritable feast from the Grimm, who's next attack was thrice as ferocious as any before. Vale had fallen before Pyrrha even hit the ground.

Whatever (or whoever, _there was a scary thought_ ) had sent him back in time was obviously benefiting from this. They had had him repeat the gauntlet until he had delivered the final blow, whereupon they let the flow of time continue unmolested. Whoever was responsible _wanted_ Vale to fall, and that made it an enemy.

 _But he can manipulate the flow of time itself! What's to stop him from exploiting this power whenever Jaune did anything to strike back? How can you win against someone like that?_

Jaune's breath came in shorter gasps. He closed his eyes and crossed his legs, meditating and bringing his body back from the brink of panic. This required logical thought, not rushing in blindly. First things first, getting to Emerald. He opened his eyes, reaching out for his pen and paper unconsciously, writing down thoughts as they flowed through his mind. Pages upon pages were filled with unconnected words, random phrases, numbers, and diagrams. As he continued to fill the notepad, things started to condense, random drawings from different pages would mesh, tables of numbers were calculated, and his computer screen flashed with information as he pulled it from his databases.

He sat in this trance for close to an hour, fingers flying over his keyboard and moving his pen across dozens of sheets of paper. Finally, he sat back and stretched, groaning contentedly. This was what he lived for. The planning, calculation, the pure engineering of constructing a plan. Analyzing success criteria, potential failure points, possible paths, balancing every priority, ensuring that all his needs were satisfied, this where true pleasure lay for him.

On the computer screen in front of him was the final suit he had decided upon, along with an evolving plan he had come up with on another monitor. The plan was not concrete, but he had programmed in potential situations and pitfalls into it and modified an existing decision engine to help him figure out the best action in the heat of things. It wasn't perfect, but it would clear up programming power in his brain and let him focus on the execution of said plan.

"Emerald Sustrai, it's time we had a little chat."

* * *

 **White Fang Base**

"Hey, hey you see that bush?" A deer faunus in a White Fang grunt outfit shook his partner's shoulder. His partner, a rabbit faunus jumped with the sudden touch.

"Lay off man, you almost gave me a heart attack!" The rabbit faunus smoothed his sleeve, trying to stop himself from shaking. Every time he got spooked his body dumped adrenaline into his body and caused him to shake with fright if he didn't fight or flight. It was extremely embarrassing for him.

"It's urgent! I could swear that bush moved just now."

"Probably just the wind shaking one of the lights." The rabbit faunus spoke, his previous fright bolstering his confidence. "Happens all the time. Most people on their first day are just like you, jumping at anything that moves. Just relax." He sat back in his chair, watching the nervous-looking recruit. His only faunus feature were his large blue-brown doe-like eyes, which further added to his terrified expression.

"Ugh, fine. You'll see it's nothing." He got out of his chair, pushing the golden-brown haired faunus off to the side. He leaned out the window, holding his binoculars to his eyes. "Yeah. Nothing. No one's gonna attack this place."

He lowered his binoculars and started to turn, only to have a leg fly out from under him, destroying his balance. His hip hit the edge of the open window and he teetered, the sudden motions freezing his body. He felt hands on his legs and bushy tail and he flew out the window, landing in a heap at the bottom of the watchtower.

The deer faunus moved away from the window, all traces of his previous emotions gone from his face. He took the walkie-talkie off his belt and tuned it to the emergency broadcast channel. "This is Tobias! Wellers just fell out Watchtower 3! He was alone, possible intruder, all personnel investigate, now!"

With the fake announcement done, the deer faunus put the walkie-talkie back into his belt and opened the window opposite the one Wellers had 'fallen' out of. He stepped out onto the ledge and heaved himself onto the dark roof. He wasted no time in watching the base rouse itself and opened the box he had stashed here before Wellers' shift. He took off his White Fang uniform and quickly put on the patchily colored, earthen-toned, lightly armored tight suit. He draped a few strands of camouflage netting over himself, connecting them to each other. One wire remained which he plugged into his helmet.

It was sleek but rigid, making his head look different than the real shape of his skull. The netting served a similar purpose: breaking up the real shape of his body and changing it to avoid detection and recognition. His view of the world lit up as the HUD came online, displaying data from sensors in the suit and those on the outskirts. Night vision, infrared, SONAR, LIDAR, and visual data all poured into his suit and into his eyes. He strapped a short sword to his waist and two throwing knives to his legs. He finished the ensemble by strapping some armor on vital positions on his torso and legs.

He put the White Fang uniform back into the box and closed it. He turned to the perimeter and searched for a mine he had tagged before getting into the base. He aimed and threw the box, watching it sail over the first responders and onto the mine. The mine exploded but he didn't wait around to watch it.

The moment the first responders flinched back into the protection of their jeep, he leapt from the watchtower and onto flat ground next to the road, wisps of white aura the only indication of his aura-assisted landing. He scrambled into the bushes lining the side of the road and watched two more jeeps drive by, sliding to a stop in a tactical stop, blockading the road.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The first part of his plan had worked out great. The dead guard was to distract their attention to the watchtower, and the mine was to make them think there were multiple intruders and deploy in greater numbers. The more people here, the less people there would be near the command center. With this near-emergency situation, discipline would be close to breaking point and they would descend into chaos if there were any more out-of-the-blue attacks.

 _Shock and awe._ It felt great using their own strategy against them.

He remained in a crouched position and moved as fast as he could to a nearby barracks, moving in its shadows along a path he had mapped out while on the roof. There would be minimized risk of encountering any soldiers here, and the riskiest barracks seemed to be already deployed on patrols.

He made it to the chain-link fence that separated the command structure from the rest of the barracks. It was a square, squat, two-story concrete building that looked like a mix between an older office building and a Soviet bunker. Lights shown out of less than half the rooms, which made sense. Most of the higher ups and officers would be out closer to the action to direct and supervise the sacking of Vale. All the better for him.

White aura pooled around his feet and he used some of the Gravity Dust in his soles to barely clear the barbed top of the fence. Some of his netting caught on the barbs and were ripped out, but he didn't notice. His attention was on the unexpected two-man patrol that was walking towards him from his right, walking _away_ from his distraction. They were too close to risk movement and so he crouched still, randomizing the color of some of the panels on his suit to help blend into the rocky ground. It came at the cost of armor and added weight, but what good was armor if he had the wrath of an entire operating base concentrated upon him?

He watched them as they slowly made their way over to his location and walked past him. He relaxed and then immediately froze as the Faunus further away turned, face slightly turned up and his nose twitching.

 _Bear faunus. Superhuman smelling ability. Son of a-_

The faunus's eyes bored straight into his. He reached into his holster and only managed to pull his gun out halfway before his arm was torn away below the elbow and hit his partner. The first soldier stared in shock at his new stump, blood barely visible on his face in the dark light. His partner recoiled backwards and into a sword. His frenzied heartbeat caused his heart to cut itself to pieces against the steel of the sword and he dropped soundlessly to the ground.

The one-armed faunus froze with his mouth agape and eyes wide. The assailant pulled back his free arm and threw a knife straight into his mouth. He too dropped silently. Wiping the weapons on the clothes of the soldiers, he dragged the bodies into the shadows behind a nearby empty storage shed. The path to the command center now free, he made his way over considering his angle of attack.

* * *

 **White Fang Armory**

The conversation bubbling in the armory died almost immediately as the green-haired girl stalked in. She walked over to her locker, the soldiers all around her hastily finishing up the maintenance on their weapons. They knew how wise it was to avoid her when she was angry and now that her partner still hadn't returned from his mission she was simply a stack of Scorch Dust sitting next to a blazing fire. A lieutenant had gotten on her bad side and had now was looking at years in physical therapy healing his broken spine. No one had tried to antagonize after that.

She reached her locker and unpacked the weapon maintenance station, a metal cabinet with cleaning supplies, spare tools, and other materials in drawers below a metal surface that had a light and magnifying glass attached.

She pulled out her twin revolver sickles and unloaded them before placing them on the table. She started to disassemble her weapon, cleaning each component with the utmost care, utterly losing herself in her work. She had fully disassembled the weapon and was cleaning the receiver when she felt a presence behind her. She whirled around with the sickles in each hand only to see the janitor staring at her weapons and clutching his broom. His portable cabinet of cleaning supplies was next to him, coming up to about navel high for the man.

"What do you want?" She growled. This one must be new. Every other one knew to stay away from her and they always found creative reasons to go clean another floor on another wing. It was amusing to her.

"Just…just trying to clean m…ma'am." His voice was a little high pitched, probably in fright and his blue-brown eyes were wide with fear. His face was pale, and his golden-brown hair peaked out from under his hat.

She glared at him for a few seconds more, enjoying his cringing, before turning back to her bench. The janitor moved to his cabinet and started opening drawers. She refocused on her weapon, losing interest in the new janitor as he cleaned the lockers and floors left messy by the hasty retreat of the other soldiers.

She started reassembling her weapons, only to discover a part missing: a screw that attached the chain to the handle of the right gun. She looked around her to find it, and saw it glinting under feet. _Wait a second, it's in the shadows, how is it glinting?_

Her eyes widened as the screw disintegrate into pure light and sound straight into her face, blasting her backwards. She fell onto something hard and arms snaked around her torso. Before she could even move an inch, the sharp edge of a blade stopped all thoughts.

 _What? Who? The janitor?_

She felt herself lowered into a sitting position on the ground, with her assailant kneeling behind her. Her head was pulled backwards, and the janitor's face loomed upside-down in her vision. There was no trace of fear in his eyes and a large smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, which shimmered with dark humor and a promise of utmost harm.

"No one ever looks at the meek twice. Shame you didn't learn that lesson earlier." His smile disappeared. "Now, you're going to tell me everything about your last mission."

Her right hand was pinned under the 'janitor's' foot as he kneeled behind her, while her left was pulled behind her with his left hand. His right hand held the sharp motivation for her to remain still. Her mind whirled. She had to stall until she got enough room to use her semblance and escape. Some brave idiot bursting in would do the trick. Someone had to have heard the blast of the flashbang.

"Why? You're faunus, the White Fang are doing this for you."

"I'm the one asking questions, you would do well to remember that." The pressure against her throat increased, turning her involuntary gulp painful. "Your stalling won't change a thing. No one's coming here. Now I ask again, what was your mission?"

Emerald looked around in vain. There was no reason to believe the man, but there was no reason to only hope on a distraction.

"Fine, I'll tell you, on one condition."

"We'll see. I seem to have all the chips right now, but I guess we can come to an agreement if your information is deemed…thorough enough."

Emerald nodded the tiniest of nods. "Alright, fine. My mission was to lead the south flank of the White Fang through the agriculture zone and capture the farms."

A yelp of pain escaped her as the knife made a small cut into her throat. "A lie."

Her breathing deepened, and her head was forced further backwards. "Fine! I was helping hack the…" Another scream escaped her as he lengthened the cut.

"Not far to the jugular little Emerald." He chuckled mirthlessly.

She was almost crying now. For all the bravado and self-confidence she showed on the outside, there was something broken inside her the entire time. Cinder had helped hide that and make her into the woman she was today, but the reality of dying at the hands of this psychopath broke that.

"I was looting the Maiden's aura transfer machine under Beacon." She managed to get out, her voice hoarse. "That's the truth. Please don't kill me." A tear broke from the wetness in her eyes and traced a path down her chocolate brown face. His eyes traced that tear and she dared hope he would show mercy.

"I see. That's a better job than stealing the possessions of a dead man."

She gasped. "You know where Mercury is?" She blurted out, her emotions playing havoc with her self-restraint. Mentally she was back in her childhood years, with the familiar threat of death hanging over her at ever moment. She had never felt so defeated.

"He's dead. Got trapped in one of Arc's vaults and starved to death." His voice was blunt, emotionless, and cold as ice. "Good riddance."

Emerald slumped. She had suspected this for the past couple of days but had held out hope that Mercury was simply pinned down by Grimm or had had to take a detour.

"Well Emerald, you have been _very_ cooperative today. Unfortunately, your information just isn't what I was looking for."

Emerald's eyes widened in fear. "What?! I told you what you asked for!"

"Where is that machine now?"

"Vale Industrial District, Sector 81, Wells Electronics Manufacturing warehouse. It's hidden behind a stack of empty Schnee Shock Dust Crates. Are you happy now?"

"One last thing. Which maiden are you going after next?"

The cold metal dug in slightly deeper into her wound and she blurted out the answer before realizing what she'd said. "The Spring Maiden!"

"Thank you. As a show of good faith, I'm going to take back this unfortunate implement. I hope you stay cooperative, I'd hate for you to get hurt before you get to state your condition." The knife disappeared from her throat and the man reached for something behind him.

Emerald barreled forwards, breaking the man's grip and reaching her weapon table in a blink of an eye. She dumped all her energy into an illusion, flooding the room with copies of herself. She watched the man, who had put on a helmet ( _why?_ ) step backwards in confusion. She had the illusory clones all circle around him. She went with the crowd, circling around her tormentor. He had pulled out a sword from a drawer in the janitor trolley but had no armor. She would take her time killing him, taking pleasure in his pain. She would have plenty of time: as he said, no one was coming.

She waited two seconds, three, four, now. She had half her clones leap at the man who batted them off and retreated from their assault right into her waiting jaws. She held her blades to her side and leaped, intending to impale them into his back.

Instead, she found herself four feet in the air, the man's expressionless helmet staring up at her, his sword all the way through her abdomen. She gaped in shock, the cold of the metal traveling through her core and shutting down vital processes. She tried to pull herself off, but the blade was too slick with her own blood.

Her struggles grew weaker as blood continued to leak out of her, slowly. The pain was worse than anything she had felt. The man stood, staring at her. She swung at the side of his helmet, hoping for a reaction, but all she got for her troubles was a bruised hand which only added to the pain addling her brain.

"Why?" She croaked out. It was all she could manage. The man seemed to understand her meaning behind that one word.

"You know why. Some may call this psychopathic. I call this justice." He put her down and pushed her off his sword, leaning in to speak into her ear. "When you get to hell, tell your master than Jaune Arc will not stop until the entire debt has been repaid."

Her eyes widened as her mental faculties shut down. Her last thought was disbelief and her last image was that of the man stalking off, stashing his helmet in his trolley, and pushing the trolley out of the room as if he truly was simply just a janitor and not a phantom risen from the dead.

Jaune paused as the door closed behind him. His eyes were closed, and his emotions in turmoil. Putting the lid back on them, he barred the gate behind him and took an elevator to the bottom floor, activating fire alarms as he went. He stopped by the janitorial closet to put his 'borrowed' clothes back on the real janitor and donned his armor. He left the same way he entered, through the maintenance door that only the help used. It had been unlocked and had offered Jaune the perfect setup for his plan.

Jaune sprinted for the fence and hopped it, detonating the charges in the janitor trolley. The side of the command center blew out and a plume of smoke rose 30 feet into the air. Jaune smiled grimly.

The mission had gone swimmingly. He had managed to prove that he could make a body that could pass for a human-like faunus (apparently just increasing the size of his eyes was enough to make him look non-human), infiltrated the White Fang base, gotten the information he had wanted, rid himself of an enemy, and had made a successful escape. It truly was almost flawless.

But then why did he feel so empty?

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading guys! Please do review! If you have any thoughts or ideas, or if there are any typos or issues, a PM would be preferred since that enables me to respond easier. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, almost a thousand goddamn follows! Thanks you so much for the support guys. I know it's nowhere close to a lot (even just in RWBY) but it's a lot to me. Thanks again.

Until next time!


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